Supernatural Retaliation
by You're-Not-So-Big
Summary: Time is almost up for Dean and Sam is desperate enough to do anything to save him. Unfortunately for Danny Fenton, that includes making a deal with the crossroads demon for the soul of Danny Phantom. SNxDP.
1. Chapter 1

**Supernatural Retaliation**

Chapter One

* * *

They had tried everything. Everything. And nothing had worked. Dean wouldn't be able to get out of the deal and there was nowhere to run. Nowhere to hide, and no way to win.

Sam Winchester threw a hacky sack into the air repeatedly, catching it as it fell back down. He stared blankly at the monitor of his computer, waiting for Dean to come back with his coffee. What was wrong with him? He was the protégé of the family. Accepted to Stanford, an aspiring lawyer. But nothing he did was working. All the studying and all of the cramming he had done in school was useless. Demons didn't abide by law; they were completely unpredictable.

And, as much as she was helping, Sam knew Ruby wasn't going to cut it. She was just one demon and there were so many others out there that had it in for both him and his brother. She wouldn't be able to keep them from being killed if there were any more face to face battles like the one last week. The odds just weren't in their favor. So he had committed himself to finding a way, anything that would help Dean out of his predicament. But he knew there was nothing—

_Bang!_

The flimsy motel room door was practically kicked open, effectively interrupting Sam from his morbid thoughts. Sam winced for the people in the surrounding rooms as he checked the time on his laptop.

"Jeez, Dean, it's six in the morning, people could be aslee—"

"Come and get it, Sammy!" Dean interrupted, not particularly caring about how he affected other people's sleep…or lack, thereof. He had four coffees in his hands, two for each of them, and the smell of cheap diner breakfast wafted from a brown take-out bag in his other hand, hidden beneath a local newspaper. "Did you find anything?"

Sam forced a smile. "Nah, did you?"

"Actually, yeah," Dean said, setting down the coffees and dumping the brown bag on the table. He threw the folded newspaper at Sam, who caught it with ease. "More'n just a couple of deaths up north."

Sam scanned the front page. "'Tragedy Strikes Beloved Family,'" he read aloud. "'Sixteen year-old Michael Johnson found dead in his home?' Dude, Dean, that's just one person…. You know we don't have time for cases like this."

"Yeah, but Sam, I gotta feeling about this one," Dean said confidently. "Plus, I did a little research. Turns out his mother _and_ father were offed only a few months ago. And there's something else. You gotta see this, Sam, keep reading."

Sam gave his brother an odd look before returning his gaze to the paper in front of him. He skimmed through it and Dean took pleasure in watching his brother's facial expression turn from slight annoyance to disbelief.

"This isn't some pseudo-science magazine, is it? You know…with the aliens and space ships?" he asked and his brother shook his head. "You're telling me that these people—the whole _town_—believes in _ghosts_?"

"Yeah, hilarious and ironic, isn't it? Creepy, too. Never seen a town where it's a totally accepted thing."

Sam looked at the paper once more. The front page article described the assumed circumstances of the deaths of Michael 'Mikey' Johnson and his parents. And the assumed circumstances were far from typical. This town—Amity Park—believed in ghosts. And not only did they believe in them, they believed that one of them was guilty of committing homicide. This wasn't right—_towns_ weren't supposed to believe in ghosts. Sure, one person, several people… but whole towns?

"Dean, you know what this means, don't you?"

Dean suddenly became serious. "They're making themselves apparent."

"Not only that; there's so many of them, whole _towns_ are noticing. Dean, this is worse than I expected!"

"What _were_ you expecting?" Dean snorted. "For people to remain ignorant while a freaking _war_ is going on?"

That made Sam think. "Well…."

Dean grabbed his coffees and food and began to gather his few belongings.

"Come on, Sam," he said, throwing Sam's backpack at him. "The only way to win a war is to win all the battles. So let's win ourselves another battle."

* * *

"Oh, man," Danny had just read the horrific news. Next to him, in the corner of the small booth in the Nasty Burger, Sam's frown deepened.

"You read the news, too?" she asked. Danny and Tucker nodded sullenly. "The police are assuming suicide because of the death of his parents. Poor Mikey… I would've never guessed…."

They heard a sob and looked over at a free-standing table to see Valerie being comforted by several girls, most notably Star and, surprisingly enough, Paulina.

"I-I nev-ver even gave him a-a cha-ance!" she cried into Star's shoulder. Sam's heart went out to her as Star wrapped an arm around Valerie's shoulders.

"Valerie seems to be taking it pretty hard."

"Yeah, man," Tucker added, looking at Danny. "We should probably go say something. Mikey was totally obsessed with her."

Danny shifted uncomfortably in the red vinyl seat. He wasn't good at these types of things. It was situations like this that made him realize… how good he actually had it—his family and friends, all alive and well. And he wasn't particularly fond of the feeling and the things it made him remember.

"It's not like she was obsessed with _him_, though. Okay, okay, I will," he added, catching sight of Sam's expression. "Later. I'd rather talk to her alone, you know?"

Tucker nodded at the sight of the many girls flocking to Valerie's side, assuring her that she was still a good person. None of them _really_ cared for Mikey—not even Valerie. They were only scared for their own mortality and the fact that their community had been struck with the frightful reality of life.

Danny left enough cash on the table to cover himself and his friends and slid out of the booth.

"I kind of feel like going home…."

Sam nodded. "I gotta get home, too. School night. The 'rents'll kill me if I'm not back before curfew. Mom believes that ghosts killed Mikey."

"I kind of doubt it," Danny said. "But see you tomorrow?"

"See you in class," Sam smiled before turning to leave.

Tucker clapped his friend on the back consolingly. "I'm sure it wasn't a ghost, man. And you're not the police. You wouldn't have been able to stop it."

Danny looked at his feet and didn't reply. Instead, he said, "See you at school, Tuck."

Tucker frowned at his friend as Danny slowly trudged out of the Nasty Burger.

-

The next day found Danny sitting with his head on his desk and Sam and Tucker sitting next to him. At the front of the classroom was Lancer, talking to two young men, who the trio guessed were public or some sort of motivational speakers that the school brought in to talk to them about the situation. Sam and Tucker watched with worry as Danny stared at the chalkboard, letting the classroom in front of him fade into a blur as his eyes slid out of focus.

"Well, class, I'm sure you've all heard the recent news about one of your fellow classmates, Mikey Johnson," Mr. Lancer began. "His and his family's funeral is scheduled Monday, next week and, since there are no living family members, it's up to the town to plan funeral. The mayor has given a good amount of money to fund the event, so I advise everyone to go pay their condolences…." Most of the class was looking at their desk, saddened and uncomfortable. Mr. Lancer cleared his throat to recapture their attention. "In other, happier news, after all this time the school has been searching for more teachers, we've finally got two new applicants. They will be working for us as student teachers until we can set up their course schedules." The class suddenly perked up, and all the students began looking the two new student teachers over. Whispers filled the room and the taller of the two men shifted his weight, uncomfortable with being scrutinized. The shorter blond however, confidently took a step forward and smiled at the class.

"Hey kids, I'm Dean Dickenson and this," he said turning back to the other man, "is my brother, Sammy."

The kids snickered and Tucker turned to give his friend Sam a look.

"Sammy," he whispered to her, laughing. In turn she rolled her eyes and flipped the red beret off of his head.

"Yeah, we'll, uh, be teaching you guys from now on," the taller one, Sammy, said, giving his brother an angry glare. Mr. Lancer nodded in acceptance and began walking towards the exit.

"Yes," he said. "And I would stay here and monitor you kids, but I have important business to attend to."

With that, Mr. Lancer left the room, leaving Dean and Sammy Dickenson alone to teach.

The class leaned forward, the girls especially, and looked expectantly at the two young men at the front of the room. Dean suddenly became just as uncomfortable as his brother and he tugged at his collar and cleared his throat.

"Yeah, well, since it's our first day, well start with the, you know… the basic stuff. Like, let's get to know each other. Hey, I know! Let's play the Name Game!"

Samleaned back in her seat at this and whispered to Tucker and Danny, "Jeez, they may be hot, but what a joke…."

Paulina raised her hand. "Ooh, ooh, Mr. Dickenson… uh, Dean, I'm Paulina," she said, fluttering her eyelashes flirtatiously.

Dean smirked at Sammy. "Hi, Paulina," he smiled at her and _both_ Sams rolled their eyes at the same time. "Anyone else?"

Slowly, the rest of the class jumped in with their name. Except for the trio. Danny sat, glumly looking at the two teachers, Sam was eyeing them with distaste, and Tucker wasn't even paying attention, too caught up in his PDA.

"I'm Dash Baxter, star quarterback," Dash pointed to himself proudly.

"Hey, Dash," Dean smiled. He decided to try a new tactic in order to learn about the town. "You know, I was wondering about something I read in the paper. Something about this town being haunted, or something," he hinted not-so-subtly.

The whole class fell silent and all the students dropped their hands.

"Well," Sammy continued. "Is it?"

"Well, yeah… why do you think we have a ghost alarm?" Dash was looking at Dean like he was stupid. "Ask Fen_toni_, he would know more about it. His parents are ghost hunters."

Sammy coughed and Dean's eyes widened. "Ghost hunters!" they asked in unison, sharing a glance at each other, surprised that they might be able to find a kindred spirit or two in this town.

"Who's Fentoni?" Sammy finally asked.

"It's Fenton," a girl in the back of the classroom answered. She was completely dressed in black, obviously Goth, and had her arms crossed over her chest.

"You're Fenton?"

Sam opened her mouth to reply, but the one of the boys sitting next to her beat her to the answer. "She wishes."

The whole class snickered and Sam punched him in the shoulder so hard he fell out of his chair.

"No," the boy on her left said, giving a small half-hearted smile. "I'm Fenton."

"Hey, Fenton—" Dean began.

"Danny," the Goth girl interrupted.

"—_Danny _Fenton," Dean corrected himself. Danny's smile became plastered and fake as he struggled to hold it. "My brother and I—"

The bell rang, effectively cutting him off as the students jumped out of their seats and raced one another to the door.

"Hey Danny!" Sammy called and Danny, still gathering his things, turned to face him. "Danny, can we- uh, can you stay after class to talk to us?"

Danny looked hesitantly at his friends, who shrugged. "Uh, sure," he started reluctantly, but then he smiled. "As long as it gets me out of gym."

"A'course," Dean laughed, putting an arm around the boy, and pulling him away from his friends. Sam and Tucker looked at each other, each sharing a wary glance at the teachers, but eventually left the classroom.

"So, uh, what did you want to talk about?" Danny started awkwardly once he was alone with the two teachers.

"Well, Danny, we wanted to know if we could talk to your parents," Sammy answered.

"My parents?" Danny asked, suddenly alarmed. "Why would you want to talk to _them_?"

"Hey, kid, relax," Dean interrupted. "You're not in trouble. Look, we were just interested in their profession, that's all."

Danny laughed at this. "Their _profession_? You mean, hunting ghosts? Sure, go ahead, but I'm warning you, they're total fanatics. They'll drive you crazy."

"Well, do _you_ know anything about ghosts?" Dean asked. Danny exhaled a long breath before answering.

"Sure, I'd say _everyone_ in this town knows about ghosts, seeing as we have ghost attacks, like, almost every day. But I might know a bit more than most people, being a ghost hunter's son and all…."

"Wait," Sammy said. "You're attacked by ghosts every day?"

"Uh, yeah?" Danny gave them the same look that Dash had given them. "Obviously, you're not from here…."

"Obviously not," Dean snorted.

"Yeah, well, tell me, Danny," Sammy cut in, bringing the two boys back on track, cutting straight to the point. "I was wondering if it was just ghosts here, or if you know of any other spectral beings."

"_Other_ spectral beings?" Danny was confused.

"You know, monsters, demons, those sorts of things," Dean told him casually.

"Demons? What are you guys? Crazy?" Danny asked, taking a few steps away from them, completely nonplussed and slightly disconcerted by where the conversation seemed to be going.

"No, no, no! Of course not! We were just kiddin'!" Dean said hurriedly, desperately trying to cover Sam's mistake. Danny wasn't comforted.

"Look, uh, I gotta get to class," he said, giving the two teachers an odd look. Before they could say anything, Danny rushed out of the classroom to find his two friends, leaving his textbook, notebook, and pencils lying on his desk, completely forgotten.

"Poor kid," Dean said to the empty doorway. "Sammy, you scared him away. Now we won't be able to see him 'til tomorrow."

Sam glared at Dean. "_Sammy_?" he asked angrily. Dean smirked. "And Dickenson? Who's ass did you pull that from?"

"Come on," Dean laughed. "You know you like it."

Sam hit Dean on the back of his head.

"Ow! Hey!"

"Look, the kid left all his stuff," Sam walked over to Danny's desk. He flipped open the textbook. "'If lost, please return to: Danny Fenton, 13 West Casper Street, FentonWorks.' Hey, we might be able to find the kid before tomorrow after all."

"Yeah, and we'll be able to find his parents, too. See Sam? This isn't such a hard job after all. It'll be easy. Get our minds off of the war for a while."

Sam gave Dean a serious look. "That's what I'm afraid of, Dean."


	2. Chapter 2

**Supernatural Retaliation**

Chapter Two

* * *

"Yeah and they were totally crazy! I mean, they _actually_ asked me if there were _demons_ and _monsters_ and stuff here. I'm sorry, I couldn't talk to you guys earlier 'cause of Skulker, but seriously, can you believe it?" Danny gabbed into the microphone of his computer. On his monitor, Tucker snorted.

"Completely whack," he said. Sam sighed.

"It's just our luck. I mean, the one time our school gets new teachers, they have to be insane. Where's the justice?"

The trio laughed. It was late, around eight o'clock, and after dinner. The three teens had gotten into the habit of using their webcams whenever parents or other activities got in the way of seeing each other face to face. Sam sighed and suddenly became serious.

"Danny, there's something weird about those two, though," she said. "I just get this weird feeling when I'm around them…."

"And dude, you have to be careful," Tucker warned. "New people don't just waltz into Amity Park wanting to be teachers. We don't know a thing about them."

"Yeah," Sam added. "You never know, they could even be working for one of your enemies. Why else would they be asking about ghost hunting and your family?"

"Oh, come on, my enemies?" Danny laughed. "Sam, where do you get this stuff? Just a few months ago, you were telling me that the world didn't revolve around me, so why should it now? Not _everyone_ I meet is working with the enemy."

Sam bit her lip but didn't say anything else, and Danny looked away from the video camera to grab his backpack. The tense moment instantly snapped when Danny turned back to his friends.

"Group homework, anyone?" he asked.

"Done and done," Tucker said, pulling out his homework packet and waving it in front of the camera. Sam laughed. Her two friends were always good for lightening the mood. Danny dug his hand in his bag and found with great surprise that it was empty.

"Oh, no," he mumbled.

"What is it, Danny?" Sam asked, concerned.

"I think I forgot my books and stuff at school."

Tuck laughed at his friend's misfortune. "Man, that sucks."

Just then, as if on cue, the FentonWorks doorbell rang.

"What was that?" Tucker asked. Danny looked up.

"The doorbell," he explained with a groan. "My parents are in the lab and Jazz is studying. I should probably get it. See you guys tomorrow?"

"See you, Danny," Sam waved.

"See you at school, man," Tucker said and the connection between the three computers was broken. Danny stood up and stretched.

"Coming, I'm coming!" he yelled at the door as the doorbell rang a second time. He ran down the stairs to the front door. He pulled the handle and gasped in surprise as it swung open, revealing two figures standing outside on the welcome mat.

"Mr. Dickenson! Uh…both of you!"

"Hey Danny," Sam Dickenson smiled.

"We found your books; you left them at school," Dean explained, handing Danny his school books. "Wouldn't want you to not be able to get your homework done."

Danny reluctantly took them and awkwardly looked them over with a mixture of relief and annoyance, wondering if they drove all the way to his house _just_ to give him his schoolwork. "Uh…thanks…."

"Danny-boy! Who's at the door?" a loud, booming voice came from somewhere inside the house. Sam and Dean looked up from Danny to see a large man in an orange hazmat suit come running towards them from a door that led down to what the brothers guessed was the basement. A smaller woman in similar blue hazmat followed him and closed the basement door behind her.

"You must be Mr. and Mrs. Fentoni—uh, sorry, I mean _Fenton_," Dean quickly corrected himself with a shake of his head. Sam glared at him.

"Uh, oh yeah, Mom, Dad, these are my new teachers," Danny introduced them. "You know, the ones Jazz told you about at dinner. Mr. Dickenson…s, this is my mom and dad."

"Please, Danny, call us Dean and Sammy," Dean laughed.

"It's _Sam_," Sam corrected, clearly not amused by Dean's antics.

"Please come in," Mrs. Fenton said sweetly. "Have you had dinner? Can I get you two anything to eat?"

"No, we're fine, thank-" Sam started, waving a hand to indicate he didn't want anything, but Dean cut him off.

"Actually, I'm starved," he said, walking into the foyer.

"Well, please make yourselves at home, I'll go fix you something," Mrs. Fenton smiled warmly, pointing to a couple of seats in the corner of the room. She bustled out of the living room to the kitchen, muttering, "Oh, what adorable teachers!" while Mr. Fenton took the time to get to know the two young men better.

"You're Danny's teachers, eh? Well, that's just great! I love knowing that my children are getting a great education under the _best_ educators-" Sam shifted uncomfortably in his chair as Mr. Fenton babbled on and on about "when he was a kid…" and how glad he was about them teaching his children.

"Well, that's very flattering, Mr. Fenton, thanks," Dean flashed him a smile. He adopted a thoughtful face which didn't suit him at all. "You know, I was wondering… I asked Danny, here, earlier; My brother and me, we're new in town. So I was wondering what all this noise about 'ghosts' was about."

"Ah, that's a great question, m'boy! Although, I don't understand why you'd ask Danny, he's not _nearly_ as into this ghost business as his sister is…. Anyway, the town is as haunted as you can possibly get."

"Of course!" Mrs. Fenton added as she entered the room, bringing them platefuls of food. "That's why we moved here!"

Sam was shocked. "You moved here because it was haunted?" he said with a cough. Jack Fenton nodded eagerly.

"Well, you see, my buddy back in college, Vlad Masters, and my wife and I, we began by starting an investigation and researching the paranormal…."

Dean and Sam listened with a mixture of interest and disbelief as Mr. and Mrs. Fenton described how they and a college friend had discovered a "Ghost Zone," how they built a portal to it, and how they were now in the inventing business. Danny practically fell asleep beside them on the couch.

"So… you aren't ghost hunters so much as you are paranormal_ inventors_?" Sam asked curiously, taking a bite out of an oddly colored green hot dog.

"Sweet!" Dean exclaimed, dropping his plate on the table and startling Danny out of his slumber. "Sammy, we just hit the jackpot!"

"Bingo, fellas!" Jack exclaimed with them, although he really had no clue what Dean was so happy about. "Would you like to see some of the Fenton Inventions?"

"We sure would, wouldn't we Sam?" Dean was overjoyed by the fact that maybe he and his brother would be able to score a few new weapons. Even if the man wasn't going to offer them any, they would always be able to steal later on. It wasn't like this house was top security.

"I guess…," Sam said, a little reluctantly. Just then, Danny gasped and shuddered.

"Oh, no," the boy groaned under his breath, softly enough that no one in the room heard him. His ghost sense had just gone off, and he needed to get out of the house as fast as possible. He was just debating whether to use the bathroom or the homework excuse when he remembered his earlier conversation with his friends. Even if the teachers weren't working for his enemies per say, they _were_ strangers, and Danny just didn't feel comfortable leaving his family alone with two men he knew very little about. Recalling all the things he was sure he knew about them, he realized that Sam was right, for all he knew, they could be working for Vlad!

"Da-_ad_, stop forcing them!" he whined, pretending to be thoroughly embarrassed. "Oh, uh, look at the time!" he gasped in fake shock, looking at his watch. "It's nine thirty on a school night! Well, I need to get to sleep and I'm sure you guys need time to plan out class tomorrow, so see you at school!" Danny said, his words all coming together in a nervous rush. He practically shoved Dean and Sam through the door before slamming it shut with a quick, "bye!"

* * *

Sam and Dean blinked at the door as it slammed in their faces.

"That little twerp," Dean finally broke the shocked silence. "We drove all this way to give him his homework and he didn't even let us finish our dinner. And damn! I wanted to see if any of their weapons actually worked!"

Sam wasn't as amused. "I don't get it. Why was the kid so scared of us?"

"I don't know. Didn't act like a changeling or anything like that," Dean mused, turning to walk back to the street where his black '67 Chevy Impala was waiting for the both of them. "He actually seemed perfectly normal."

"Yeah, _besides_ the fact that he shoved both his teachers out the door in the middle of a conversation," Sam added, following his brother.

"Nah, the kid was right," Dean argued, opening the door and sliding into the car. "We really do need to make up our class schedule…." He laughed as a funny thought crossed his mind. "Man, those Fentons. Never seen any hunter's like 'em."

Sam managed a smile. "You're right. I mean, I knew there were hunters that specialize in stuff, but dude, they were _way_ too obsessed with ghosts."

"Yeah, I know, right? When you can specialize in anything, demons, vampires, the things that actually _do_ stuff to people, why pick ghosts?" Dean snorted. "Makes no sense."

"And their poor kids," Sam continued, laughing along with him. "They didn't seem too interested in the business."

Dean returned his attention to the road and the two brothers drove together in relatively comfortable silence towards the motel room they had rented out on the outskirts of the town for the low price of twenty bucks a night. They had just stopped at a stop sign when a green flash caught their eyes.

"What was that?" Sam asked, sitting straight, suddenly on the alert.

"Dunno, but we better find out." Dean pulled over to the side of the road and parked. He opened the car door, grabbed a salt gun and a silver knife from under the dash, and jumped out of the car, all in one swift motion. Sam did the same, though instead of grabbing a knife and gun, he grabbed a dirty, overused Bible written in Latin, and a silver canteen of holy water. Another, darker green light flashed and the two brothers rushed towards it. They followed the flashing lights through a patch of trees until they came to a clearing. What they saw shocked them.

"Come on, Skulker, I _really_ don't have time for this. I mean, I just got my homework and it's due _tomorrow_!" a young boy called. Weirdly abnormal for a demon, it was glowing and apparently had the ability to shoot green light out of its hands. It was dressed in a black hazmat suit, not unlike the ones the Fenton adults were wearing.

"Your social and academic life don't concern me, prey," a deeper, older voice sounded. The boy wasn't alone.

"Shit," Dean swore from behind a large bush, taken by surprise. "Sam, is that a flying _robot_?"

Sam opened his mouth to reply, but found himself at loss for words.

"Well, you should." The floating demon boy continued talking to the thing in front of him, reaching behind his back for something. "Cause, seriously, sometimes I'm just not in the mood."

Before the robot…thing could reply, the demon boy pulled out a soup thermos and aimed it like a gun. It seemed that Sam and Dean could only become more confused as to what was going on as a blue beam shot out of the top of the thermos and hit the flying robot. Dean became particularly intrigued as it was sucked into the thermos.

"Woah, that's awesome," he breathed to both himself and Sam, who couldn't have been more confused.

"Dean," he whispered. Dean didn't answer as he intently watched the floating demon kid as the boy twisted the lid of the thermos shut and sighed in relief.

"Dean!" Sam raised his voice, but it was still a whisper. Dean's attention snapped from the demon to Sam. Sam motioned to him that it was now or never. Dean nodded and raised his gun, aiming it for the demon's chest as it lowered itself to the ground. Sam prepared the holy water, both of them waiting for the kid to come within range of Dean's gun.

"What a waste of my time. Now I'll never get my homework finished," the boy mumbled to himself as he wriggled into a strap that was attached to the thermos in his hands. Sam made a face at Dean, both of them wondering what the demon meant. But there was no time to contemplate the boy's words any further, as he started walking towards the bushes that hid Sam and Dean from sight.

"Three… Two…," Dean muttered as the boy moved closer and closer.

_Bang!_

The gun's explosion sounded throughout the forest and the poor boy cried out in fright, falling to the ground. Whether because he was hit or so as not to _be_ hit didn't matter, because Sam and Dean rushed upon him, weapons out and ready to destroy.


	3. Chapter 3

**Supernatural Retaliation**

Chapter Three

* * *

"Aaahh! Don't shoot! _Don't shoot!_" the boy screamed frantically, raising his arms and closing his eyes in self-defense. Then, quite unexpectedly, he coughed and spit as if he was desperately trying to rid his mouth of a bad taste. "Ew, that tastes nasty. What is it? Salt?" He rubbed his face and slowly opened his eyes to look at the shooters. "I can't believe it, you just _shot_ at me with salt. I think it got in my eye—_y__ipe_! Mr. Dickenson!"

Danny didn't even remember to make it plural; he was shocked out of his mind. Sam and Dean, however, exchanged amused looks at the fact that the demon knew them by their fake name.

"Were you gonna eat that robot thing? He didn't look like he'd make a very good soup," Dean joked, holding his gun steadily in front of him.

"Soup?" the demon boy asked weakly.

"Well, yeah, I thought that's what thermoses were for," Dean explained. Sam sighed.

"Dean, stop messing with him!" he exclaimed exasperatedly. He returned his attention to the demon kid lying on the ground. Screamin' Green Crayola-wise, his eyes were widened in fear at the gun being shoved in his face. His head was slightly tilted back so that his startlingly silver-white bangs fell backwards and grazed the ground. Sam found himself wondering how it was possible for a demon to get a Californian tan in the middle of a Midwestern state because most of the demons he had met were… well, deathly pale. But then he remembered that that wasn't the demon's real body, it was just using someone else's body like a puppet.

Sam's lip curled. It was disgusting.

A huge reminder of why _all_ supernatural creatures, demons and ghosts, from Bigfoot to Nosferatu, needed to be exorcised and destroyed. He knew if the situation was reversed, the boy in front of him wouldn't hesitate to kill him, just as any other demon would. It was kill or be killed.

"Look, I promise this wont hurt…much," he told the boy, cool sarcasm dripping from his words. He proceeded to dump the whole canteen of holy water on the boy.

To both his and Dean's surprise, it did nothing. The boy was shocked, but completely unhurt.

"Dude," the boy started, looking down at the growing wet patch around the weird 'D' shaped symbol on his suit. "I already took a shower. Thanks, though."

And with that, he phased through the ground, leaving Sam and Dean alone in the clearing with only a few more hours until sunrise.

-

"Damnit, Sam, we let him get away!" Dean was moments away from kicking his beloved car.

"Dean, dude, calm down. How the hell were we supposed to know it wasn't a demon? I mean, he kept a corporeal form, and most ghosts _I_ know can't do that. We'll get him, it's okay," Sam was desperately trying to calm his brother down.

"No!" Dean yelled, angrily slipping into the car. "It _won't_ be okay! For all we know, that kid is the one who's killing all those innocent people. He could be killing people right now! Ghost or not, we had him and we let him slip through our fingers."

"Look, we'll go back to the school tomorrow and use their computers to hack the local newspaper database," Sam said, logically thinking it through. "Public schools usually have some relation with the public library and the news. We'll do some research and bring the ghost down."

This did little to calm Dean down, but he didn't answer as he roughly turned the key to start the engine and shoved the stick-shift forward to drive. He sped down the road as fast as he could to the motel while staying inside the city speed limits, so that they could get to sleep. They had a full day's work ahead of them.

-

The next day, as soon as Danny found his way to his locker, Sam and Tucker rushed him, asking who came to his house the day before. Danny ended up telling them all about the conversation between Sam, Dean, and his parents, and the events that ensued.

"…and then, when he could have totally taken me down, he just dumps a thing of water all over me. Actually, I'm not sure if it was water. I washed my suit like fifty times last night and I'm _still_ scared it's going to turn out to be some weird ecto-acid and burn a big hole right through me."

"Relax, Danny. It hasn't burned a hole through you, yet, so there's no need to worry," Sam said with a laugh. Danny glared at her.

"Wow. That helps."

The three teens trudged into Lancer's classroom where both Mr. Dickensons were waiting for them. Well, not really waiting for them, they realized, so much as just passing the time. One was at Mr. Lancer's desk, furiously typing on a laptop and the other was flipping through a stack of books and what looked like old newspapers.

"Hey Sam, come check this out, I think I found someth-" Dean was handing one of the newspapers to Sam when he realized that the class was full and the students were watching them intently. "Shit."

Sam shifted in his seat, as he looked up from his desk, also caught completely unaware by the students. "_Dean_…," he whispered. "We're in a _school_. Watch your language."

He quickly closed his laptop and sprung up from the swivel chair to the front of the room in a single fluid and half rushed motion. Dean just as quickly shoved all the books and newspapers out of the students' view behind an empty desk in the front row and joined Sam. Both of them looked suspiciously guilty.

"Well," Sam said as Dean cleared his throat. "Uh, sorry for the delay, class. Uh, let's see… the schedule for today is…—"

"Pop Quiz!" Dean interrupted happily before turning to his brother with a stupid grin on his face. "Oh man, I've always wanted to say that." Sam gave him a quizzical look as he continued. "Everyone get out a sheet of paper. Oh, and a pencil. You'll probably need one of those…."

The class groaned and Sam cleared his throat. "Dean," he whispered so the class couldn't hear. "Dean, what are you doing?"

Dean flashed him a smile, but otherwise ignored him before continuing. "This quiz is over real life situations. Don't worry, it's pretty easy. Everyone ready for the first question? Alright. What ghosts have you all experienced?"

He paused, waiting for the students to finish as they scribbled furiously on their papers. Sam turned to him.

"Dean, this isn't on the schedule," he whispered.

"Yeah, so what?" Dean laughed, whispering back. "Look. I just realized—we got ourselves a class full of locals, right? Even better, _student_ locals. What better use for them than to do our research for us?"

Sam's face hardened and opened his mouth to give Dean a boring lecture about his maturity level. But he closed it when he found that he didn't have an argument. For once, his brother's plan was _brilliant_.

"Huh, you're right," he admitted, standing up to face the class. He turned to the class and raised his voice. "Question two. If any of you have seen a white haired, green eyed ghost kid, I want you to describe him. Complete sentences, and with as much detail as you can, please."

He looked around at the class. The response to this question was astounding. The most noticeable were a giggle from the Latina girl in front, a smirk from the blond boy sitting next to her, a scowl from the dark skinned girl sitting behind them, laughs from the Goth girl that had spoken to them yesterday and the nerdy looking boy sitting next to her, and, on the girl's other side, from Danny Fenton, a deep, drawn out sigh. Everyone adopted a look of concentration as they wrote their answers.

"That should keep 'em busy for a while." Dean reached behind the desk that hid his research and pulled out a slightly wrinkled old newspaper, handing it to Sam. Sam took it and read the front page, which was dated around two years ago.

_Inviso-Bill, Now Better Known as Danny Phantom, Becomes Town Hero_, it read. Sam read through the article with disbelief. It described how, after a ghostly invasion that had pulled the town into an alternate dimension, known to paranormal scholars and hunters Jack and Madeline Fenton as the "Ghost Zone," the ghost boy had saved the town. In a single day, his status had risen from Public Enemy Number One to Town Hero in the eyes of at least sixty percent of the population. While he read it, Dean collected the student's quizzes and dismissed them.

"Do you believe that?" he snorted after the class had left, sitting down on one of the desks. Sam ran a hand through his hair.

"Obviously something weird going on."

"I know, right? What town would think a _ghost_ was a hero? The kid was probably fighting for himself; ghost politics or something. Ghosts and demons only do dirty jobs."

"I don't know, Dean…," Sam sighed. "What about Ruby?"

"Ruby's in it for herself, too, Sam," Dean said, a serious look suddenly crossing his face. "You didn't know that?"

Sam glared at him, but didn't answer the question, not in the mood to argue. "Well, then… maybe it's a ghost that feeds off of popularity?" Dean laughed at this.

"Come on, Sammy. What kind of ghost would do that?"

Sam shrugged. "What kind of ghost would use a robotic suit? We're in a really strange town. I don't know, we need to do more research."

Dean was about to laugh a second time when a loud buzzing alarm went off, echoing throughout the school halls.

"_Students and faculty report to the ghost proof auditorium immediately,_" a mechanical voice sounded from the intercoms. Dean practically fell off the desk he was sitting on, not at all prepared for the sudden alarm.

"What the hell?" he yelled loudly so that Sam could hear him over the blaring siren. Sam shrugged, but his face was lined with as much surprise as Dean's.

"Boys!" Both brothers turned to the door as they heard a loud voice call them. Mr. Lancer waved at them from the doorway with a panicked expression on his face. "Boys, it's a ghost alarm, hurry, we need to get to the gym!"

Sam and Dean shared a confused look, but they followed the teacher out of the classroom and down the hallway.

"What is it?" Dean asked over the wailing of the alarms.

"A ghost alarm. School had them installed a couple of years ago," Mr. Lancer explained as he brusquely turned a corner, his face deathly pale. "…Fentons designed it, along with the ghost shield around the gym. Protects the kids from the ghosts… though we haven't ever _really_ had any use for it…until now."

"'Until now?'" Sam echoed, rushing to keep up with the teacher's quick pace. "What do you mean? What's wrong, Mr. Lancer?"

Mr. Lancer didn't answer them at first. But then, as they finally reached the gym where crowds of students were being filed onto the bleachers, he said slowly and softly, "…You'll see."

He left them to fend for themselves against the rush of oncoming students who were all trying to find extra seats on the bleachers. After the gym doors shut on the last of the students and staff to rush in, the alarms finally ceased, leaving the entire school silent except for the quiet chattering of the students. Principal Ishiyama stepped forward on the basketball court and the students immediately fell completely silent.

"It seems," she started in a professional voice. "That there are several ghosts on the loose. Unfortunately… they're much more… violent… than the usual."

Sam looked at Dean in confusion at the odd tone her voice was carrying. It seemed as though she was trying to hide the fact that she was on the verge of tears or a breakdown. But when she continued on, they became sure.

"There have been s-several…deaths," her voice wavered, and the whole school gasped in unison and the principal straightened and continued with more force. "I'm not at liberty to disclose exactly who…. The town has issued a severe warning and everyone in town has been notified. I'm- I'm sorry."

She walked sadly off the court to the group of teachers standing in the corner. The school immediately broke out in fearful whispers.

"You!" a loud voice cried out, engulfing the gymnasium in silence once more. "Where do you think you're going, young man?"

Mr. Lancer was pointing to the corner opposite the one he was standing and the whole student body shifted to see who he was pointing at.

Danny Fenton froze where he was, caught in the act, facing the gym doors—the only exits. "I was…just…," he began quietly, and the school strained to hear him and whatever pathetic excuse he could come up with. "Just going to the bathroom," he finished. Mr. Lancer was furious.

"_Moby Dick_! This is a dangerous situation, Fenton! Sit back down!"

The school watched as Danny swallowed and complied, obediently taking a seat on the edge of the bleachers with wide eyes. The student body then turned to Mr. Lancer to see what he was going to do. They were surprised when the two new teachers, the Mr. Dickensons, stood up and caught their attention.

"Everyone, it's going to be all right," Sam said loud enough the whole school could hear him.

"We're trained professionals," Dean added, his deep voice echoing off the walls of the gym. They both pulled an assortment of objects from their jackets—knives, a gun, a musty old book, a rosary—and headed towards the exit, ignoring the surprised gasps the students and staff made.

They kicked the doors open and looked around cautiously, weapons raised and at the ready as they made sure the coast was clear. They then tore down the halls, ready to blast any supernatural being in sight back where they believed it belonged.

Everyone was so surprised by what had just happened, nobody noticed Danny Fenton slip out of sight, intangible and invisible. He bolted out of the gym right after the two teachers had broken the seal of the ghost shield by kicking down the double doors, desperate to find out what was going on.


	4. Chapter 4

**Supernatural Retaliation**

Chapter Four

* * *

Danny ran, intangible and invisible, after the two ghost hunters-slash-teachers, intent on figuring out what they were going to do, and—he shuddered to think—who died. This wasn't the every day ghost attack—no, it was much worse. Someone had actually _died_. That made him furious. How _dare_ a ghost actually attack and kill one of the citizens in _his_ city? Amity Park was his to protect, and his only. When he found the culprit, he wasn't just going to beat it around and suck it up in the thermos. He was going to make it sorry.

It really terrified him to think about who had died. Was it someone he knew? Was this the murderer that also killed Mikey's parents?

He panted as he ran down the halls and turned a corner to the boy's locker room. He knew the entire school was in the assembly room, but it didn't hurt to be safe. He didn't want anyone to see him change.

He flung himself into the locker room and forced a change so fast, he didn't feel it happen. He then sped through the walls to find the ghost responsible for the panic.

-

Sam and Dean drove across the street to check out the Nasty Burger because it was covered in yellow police tape. The two instinctively knew that that was most likely the site of at least one of the murders. As Dean parked, Sam reached behind his seat and found their bag of spare ID tags and fake disguises.

He passed a closed leather wallet to Dean and he stuffed it in his shirt pocket as they power walked to the crime scene, trying to look official.

"Detective O'Connely," Dean told the chief in a commanding voice, pulling out the wallet and opening it to reveal a shiny detective badge. He then motioned to Sam. "This is my assistant… Harry… uh, Pitts. We're with the State."

The chief's face slid into a deeper scowl, not catching Dean's crack.

"Regionals can handle it!" he yelled angrily and throwing his hands in the air, making it clear he was very stressed at the moment. "We've got no room for the State, anyhow."

"Sorry, but the Feds beg to differ," Dean smiled annoyingly, pushing past the poor chief and leaving him red in the face. Sam followed him past the tape and into the restaurant, fuming.

"Dean, next time, leave the name picking to me," he growled. Seeing Dean's smirk he added, "You suck."

They both casually walked over to where all the police were crowding around the center of the room.

"This the body?" Dean asked lightly.

One of the policemen acknowledged him with a small nod. "One of 'em. You with the Feds?"

"…Yeah," Sam answered quickly. "Look, we need you to tell us all you know."

The man shrugged, leading the two men away from the center of the room where all the policemen were bustling around, to the counter. "I was told not to converse with the detectives but, eh, what the hell? I just want this case over with so I can get home."

"'Atta boy!" Dean said happily, pulling out a spare notebook from his pocket. Both brothers looked to the man expectantly.

"Two deaths," the policeman whispered, leaning closer to Sam, who took the notebook from Dean and began writing as fast as he could.

"We think it was a ghost, but we're not sure. One was your average civilian, Steve Burns. Worked here," he said, patting the counter behind him. "At the register. The other was a ghost hunter who was pretty famous across town. We've already loaded him up in the ambulance, but we're sure he's gone. His poor family… they're gonna be devastated by the news. The whole town, too, come to think of it," the man added sadly.

Sam frowned. "Sorry, I don't think I caught the second one's name," he said. The policeman sighed heavily and leaned in even closer after looking carefully around the room for any prying ears and eyes.

"It was Mister Jack Fenton."

-

Dean swallowed a lump in his throat as he watched the policeman walk away to finish his duty. "…No way."

"I know, it's horrible," Sam bit his lip. "That guy was right, his family's going to be devastated."

"The poor kid—I really liked 'im."

"Dean, the kid's not dead," Sam said, frowning at his brother.

"Yeah, I know, it just… it hurts. Real bad to see this happen to anyone. Losing dad-" Dean choked. He swallowed again and leaned back on the register counter. "Losing _a_ dad cuts a family real deep, you know?"

Sam heaved a heavy sigh, sadly and wholeheartedly agreeing. "Yeah, I know."

Suddenly, Dean sniffed the air and turned around to face the counter. He trailed two fingers along the side of the napkin dispenser sitting on the surface of counter next to the register and inspected them. "Hey, Sam, get a look at this."

Sam gasped. "Sulfur," he murmured, looking around and scanning through all the men in the room, as if to determine whether or not they were demons. "That can only mean one thing—"

He was interrupted by a startling crash that sounded throughout the room. All the policemen looked up from their work to see what had caused the noise. Both Sam and Dean gasped when they turned to face where all the police were staring. The ghost kid from the night before was floating near where he had just blasted a hold through the ceiling.

"What's going on?" the boy cried, clearly distressed. "Someone needs to tell me! Who died?"

Seeing the startled expressions on everyone's face and not receiving any answer, he bellowed, "_Tell me_!"

If it wasn't shockingly clear what the kid was before, it became so after one of the men pointed and yelled, "Ghost!"

That broke the eerie silence as all the policemen filed out of the restaurant with shouts and cries of fear.

"Quick, Sam, get the gun!" Dean called loudly so as to be heard over the chaotic screaming. "Silver bullets this time! I've got the colt."

Sam dug his hand into his pocket and pulled out a silver knife and a gun, loaded with small, sterling silver bullets, as Dean did the same. He aimed it at the ghost kid and was about to pull the trigger when both him and Dean were sent flying across the room. They were slammed hard against the nearest wall with grunts of pain, and both of them dropped their weapons as they slid to the floor.

"He's mine! Don't hurt him!" a deep voice hissed from the opposite side of the restaurant. "Mine!"

By this time, all the police had fled from sight. All except for one who was, in fact, being possessed. The ghost kid was instantly by Sam's side, standing over him and Dean protectively.

"Back off." His voice carried a different tone than the one it had last night. It was much deeper and weighed down by a suddenly serious intensity.

"I don't want _them_," the demon said, its attention fixed on the ghost boy.

"So, then… get out of that guy's body!" the boy didn't back down. Instead he growled, "What kind of ghost are you, anyways, having to overshadow people to get anything done, huh?"

"Overshadow?" it asked, amused. "And who says I'm a ghost?"

"Wh-what do you mean?" the ghost kid asked, confusedly dropping his battle stance. It soon became clear to Sam that the ghost in front of him didn't know what a demon was (as strange as _that_ sounded) and, for that matter, that the rest of the town didn't, either. All they knew was ghosts.

Slowly, so as not to attract any attention from the demon, Sam slid his hand across the dirty tile floor to reach his gun. Unfortunately, the two brothers weren't fully prepared for a demon. But fortunately, Sam possessed excellent observational skills, and he noticed that the demon seemed to want the ghost kid unharmed. And, luckily, they _had_ prepared for ghosts.

"What do you think I mean, you stupid boy?" the demon growled as Sam had just managed to get a good grip on the handle of his gun. All he needed now was the right moment. "Everyone's after you, now that the war has started. You and the older man like you, though for now, you're the ideal target. You're the perfect weapon."

"Older man—oof!" the kid was interrupted when Sam suddenly stood up and grabbed him from behind, wrapping his arm around his throat, pressing a gun to the boy's head with his other hand. The kid gasped in his grip when he felt the cold metal of the barrel of the gun brush the side of his forehead.

"Don't do anything, or I'll shoot, demon," Sam said threateningly. For several moments, the room was completely silent as they all stood at an impasse.

"…Clever," the demon finally commented. "But just so you know, I'm not just _any_ demon," he spat, crossing the policeman's arms. "I'm _much_ more powerful. And, alright, I'll admit it, I wasn't _really_ supposed to kill anyone. I was sent on a mission by our leader to capture the perfect weapon, and I got a little… carried away." It grinned sadistically. "And now, I'll not only have the weapon to bring back, I'll have the Winchester boys too!"

"_Winchester_ boys-?" the ghost kid managed to choke out, but Sam tightened his grip on the boy's neck, successfully preventing him from finishing his question. He cocked the gun and readied to shoot in order to show the demon that he wasn't joking around. He really would shoot, if it was necessary. Upon hearing the small click from the gun, the demon straightened.

"Fine. I'll go…but I'll be back," he said menacingly and suddenly, a black cloud of smoke left the body of the policeman as the demon left its host. Sam and the boy in his death grip stared motionlessly at the fallen man in front of them that the demon had left behind, until the silence was interrupted by Dean.

"Damnit, Sam!" Dean called from behind him. "Got away again!"

Surprised by the demon's actions and Dean's voice, Sam loosened his grip on the ghost kid and lowered his gun. The boy took it as an opportunity to escape and phased through Sam's arm, projecting himself a few feet away. He turned in the air and hovered there, looking between Sam and the unconscious policeman.

"What _was_ that thing?" he asked, cautiously keeping both of the brothers' weapons in plain sight.

"A demon," Sam sniffed, raising the gun back up at the boy.

The boy gulped and raised his hands in the air as a gesture to convey his innocence. "Why was it after you?" Dean asked, motioning to the policeman's unconscious body.

The ghost kid let out a nervous giggle. "Heh, beats me… wait, what did you call it? A demon?" he asked, continuing when Sam nodded. "That's…. Where did it go?"

"You'd think that _you_ of any of us would know," Dean retorted, imitating Sam and raising his gun. Sam nodded.

"We're going to exorcise it as soon as we see it again," he said, his finger tightening on the trigger of his gun. "But for right now, you'll do fine."

_Bang!_

He pulled the trigger back and Danny Phantom yelped and dodged. He turned back for one last you-can't-catch-me smirk at the two brothers and disappeared, fading out of sight. Dean exhaled angrily, furious that yet _another_ being had gotten out of their reach, as Sam looked around the room for any sign of the ghost.

"What'sa matter, can't catch what you can't see?" a voice sounded from the corner of the room. Dean didn't hesitate this time, he let loose four consecutive blasts from his gun. He stood, panting, his gun smoking and the room was suddenly completely silent.

"Dean," Sam whispered, quietly breaking the silence. "Think you got him?"

Dean slowly lowered his gun and turned to look at Sam. "…No. We woulda seen something."

* * *

When Danny saw that his blond teacher was actually going to shoot, he immediately phased through the ceiling as fast as he could. As soon as he was far enough away from the Nasty Burger, he checked his watch and saw that it was almost dinner time. His parents would probably be worried if he wasn't back by then, and he needed to call Sam and Tucker to tell them he was okay. He didn't slow down as he started in the direction of his house, contemplating the events that had just taken place. He wondered just what, exactly, a demon was, and how it could overshadow people when it was just a cloud of blackish smoke. He hadn't felt his ghost sense go off before he got there, so much as he had felt an incoming rush of heat, which he had ignored. He supposed that it was just like his ghost sense, just reversed.

He flew over FentonWorks ready to change in the dark alleyway behind his house when he saw several police cars parked in the middle of the road, completely blocking it. With a sickening wave of dread, he saw several policemen walking around, and he thought he even saw his mother on the front steps. He was too far away to see what she was doing, however, and he quickly touched down behind his house and changed to see what was happening.

He walked around the corner of his house and up to his mother, avoiding any policemen.

"Mom, what's going on?" he asked, looking around at the police cars and men in both sheriff and federal uniforms. He was taken by surprise when he was engulfed by a giant hug that practically crushed his ribcage.

"My baby, oh, my baby," he heard his mom cry. He felt her body shaking and quickly pulled away from her. When he looked into her face, he noticed her eyes were red and full of tears. She was crying. His mom _never_ cried.

"Mom, you're crying," he said softly and was once again crushed by another hug.

"Danny," she cried again, and he could feel the sobs wrack her body. "Oh, Danny," she repeated. "I thought you were gone, too. _We_ thought you were gone."

"Gone? Gone where?" he asked, confused. What was going on?

"Son," one of the officers tapped him on the shoulder and he broke out of his mother's embrace to face the man. "We have terrible news. Your father…."

"Dad…?"

The policeman sighed heavily and sadly looked him in the eyes. "I'm sorry, kid, your father's dead."

It was amazing how, after years of fighting ghosts and repelling ghost hunters, all it really took was a few simple words to bring his world crashing down.


	5. Chapter 5

**Supernatural Retaliation**

Chapter Six

* * *

Danny Fenton wasn't at school the next day, and his two friends looked like they didn't want to be in school, either

Danny Fenton wasn't at school the next day, and his two friends looked like they didn't want to be in school, either. Mr. Fenton's funeral was scheduled around five thirty that afternoon, and it was open to all town citizens. It looked as if everyone in the classroom was planning on attending.

"Well, I hate being the bearer of bad news, so I won't be," Dean said gruffly, starting the class. "I bet you all heard about it as soon as it happened and I wholeheartedly recommend going to the funeral, if not to give condolences, to support your fellow classmate, Danny Fenton. If anyone wants to discuss anything, feel free to raise your hand, but keep in mind we have a schedule to keep…."

The rest of the day went by quickly and quietly. The students weren't talking nearly as much as they had been the day before. Everyone was looking over their shoulders and jumping at any sudden movements as if they were all going to be the next to die, because they were so shaken by what had happened the day before. Sam and Dean were also on high alert, constantly making sure the demon hadn't dared show its face again.

By the end of the school day, no one was speaking at all, save for the teachers, and the mood was dark and heavy. The last period students sat silently, listening to Dean half-heartedly attempt to lecture them about The Cat in the Hat (the last book he had ever picked up) and waiting for the bell to ring.

Sam had refused to lecture, forcing Dean to reluctantly take up the position, and instead, he had sat at Mr. Lancer's desk, contemplating yesterday's discussion with Ruby. He wouldn't exchange a life for a life. For one, if Dean ever found out, he would kill him, and for another, as a human being, he had morals. And swapping lives was obviously against them. But then again….

Ruby _was_ right. Dean had saved more people than he could probably even count. He was amazing and he never failed to bring down demons, vampires, and other monsters. And being free would definitely restore his original personality along with his self-respect.

Sam sighed. It was a hard decision, and definitely not one to be taken lightly. This was someone's life in his hands. Danny had just lost a father, the last thing he needed was for someone to come and sell his life and, ultimately, his _soul_ for someone else. Selling things to demons was never a good idea. Besides, how would he get Danny to the crossroads without Dean noticing, anyways? Tie him up and throw him in the trunk? The crossroads were a pretty long drive from Amity Park. It would take at least two days to get there.

"…and then the cat said that the pink cake was… oh, hell. Screw this. Look, everyone just read and do their homework and stuff over long weekend. Remember that you have next week off. So don't come to school, or you won't be able to get in the building. Have a happy break and don't die!"

As if on cue, the bell rang, and the students nodded and silently packed their things before filing out the door, leaving Sam and Dean alone.

"Dean, that probably wasn't the best thing to say to them when they've just gone through, like, five deaths," Sam said.

"So? Then why didn't you say anything, smart-ass?" Dean huffed angrily. "You left me there to lecture by myself, Sam, myself! I flunked out of school to be a hunter in _ninth_ _grade_!"

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry," Sam told him. "I'll make it up to you, okay?"

"Make it up to me? Did you buy me my own Chinese restaurant? 'Cause that would totally make up for the sweet-n-sour sauce you didn't get me yesterday."

"Dean, I told you I couldn't find it! Look," Sam stood from the padded swivel chair. "I've been doing some thinking, and… well, uh, I think it'd be best if we left town. Like now."

"Leave town? Sam, has Ruby brainwashed you?"

"No, but she was right, Dean! People have been dying. The demons _are_ following us!" Sam told him, desperately hoping he bought it.

"Sam, people were already dying before we got here."

Sam sighed, giving up. "Look, alright. You want the truth? I can't tell you _all_ of it, but if we stay here any longer…," he looked at his desk, playing innocent, and hinting at his "yellow-eyed condition." Dean always fell for that. "If we stay here any longer, I think I'm going to end up doing something I'll regret."

"What are you, an anti-marijuana commercial?"

"Look Dean, I already told you that I couldn't tell you the details," Sam said, his voice strained and desperate. "If we stay, I swear, I'll do something bad. Like, really bad. As in dead people. You don't want any more dead people, do you?"

"Sam," Dean said his voice becoming serious. "What's going on? What would you do?"

"Dean, you just have to trust me!" Sam cried, almost hysterically. "Please, can we just leave this town and forget about this?"

"S-sure," Dean said, his voice filled with understanding, although he really didn't understand at all. "Well leave after the funeral. I just want to give my condolences and see the kid one last time."

"Dean…," Sam sighed, but stopped himself. He had been intending to tell his brother that he wanted to leave right away and not be anywhere near the Fentons, but doing so would provide some clue as to why he wanted to leave in the first place. When he looked up, he saw Dean looking at him expectantly. "Uh, never mind."

Dean shrugged and exited the room, leaving Sam to follow in his wake.

* * *

Danny Fenton had spent the day holed up in his room, just thinking. His mother had called him to eat several times, but he had always refused. He spun around on his desk chair until he became dizzy and fell to the ground in a small heap. With a whole day alone on his hands, he had thought about practically everything, from the meaning of life to how he was going to act at the funeral that night to Vlad's behavior the day before. Vlad….

He was going to come in for the kill, Danny just knew it. He dismissed the fake consoling words and the weird hug from his mind as nothing more than guilt. He still blamed Vlad, and even if he had the proof that he was innocent right in front of him, Danny would just keep on blaming him. It just wasn't fair. He had been forced to break his promise. The one he had made over a year ago, right to his father's face.

"_I'll protect you, I _promise," he had told his family, just before time was reset. And now the promise was broken. What next, would he suddenly sprout fangs and a fire 'fro?

He tried separating himself from his feelings to achieve the weird distance he always felt whenever something bad happened, but found that he couldn't. All he felt was hurt. Like he had been cut, but deep inside his stomach. And it ached.

He suddenly realized that he no longer wanted to be where he was. All he wanted was a way out. He wanted to be far away from his house—from his town—and not have to worry about ghosts. He wouldn't be able to deal if one was to show. He would either break down, or destroy it for real, something he had never wanted to do to any ghost. His thoughts reverted back to Vlad and his father.

How dare Vlad do this to him? How dare he take his father away?

…And so his thought process repeated itself until his mother called for the fourth time that day.

"Danny," she said from behind his closed door. "It's time to go."

Time to go to the funeral. He slowly picked himself up from off the floor and opened his door. His mother was standing behind it with a straight face, completely dressed in black. Mourning clothes. Danny wasn't wearing them, but he wasn't about to change. He followed his mother to the car, where Jazz was already waiting, similarly dressed in all black. When she saw him, he could tell she was struggling to refrain from saying anything about his choice of clothing, but she kept her mouth closed.

When he got to the funeral home, he saw many people already there and even more people following him inside. All the dark and gloomy colors reminded him of Sam. Where was she? And, for that matter, where was Tuck?

Then he found them, standing silently in the corner, behind the field of adults flocking around the casket. He walked over to and stood beside them and they acknowledged him with sad, forced smiles.

That was basically how the entire funeral went: Danny standing silently with his friends in the corner receiving a few hugs, Jazz pathetically failing to make conversation with the people around her, and their mother, standing sadly at the head of the casket.

When it was over and everyone who could have offered condolences or shared an improvised speech about how much everyone had appreciated Jack Fenton, the people slowly began to disappear.

Danny's friends eventually left with their parents and he walked them to the door, silently waving goodbye. He watched sadly as they drove off, watching their cars as they disappeared into traffic.

"Hey." Danny spun on his heels, frightened by the suddenness of the man's voice, convinced it was a ghost or the demon thing from yesterday. He sighed in relief when he saw it was just Dean.

"Oh, you scared me," he said nervously. "Hey."

"We're going away for break soon, and we just dropped by to pay condolences."

"…oh."

"Yeah," Sam appeared behind him. "We're so—"

"Sorry, I know," Danny sighed, inspecting his converses. _They are really dirty_, he thought, _I should probably wash them_. "Everyone is."

Sam and Dean were quiet and Danny looked up at them. He struggled, thinking of anything he could say to break the awkward silence.

"So, you're leaving for break?"

"Yeah, just me, Sammy, 'n the '67."

"Your car?" he asked, oblivious to every car that wasn't the Monster Truck.

"Yep," Dean smiled.

"It's a cool car." Danny was really having trouble trying to keep the conversation going. But then, realization struck. "Would you… happen to have room for one more?" he asked, hesitantly.

Dean smiled sadly at the poor boy in front of him. "Look, kid—"

"Of course we do!" Sam suddenly and Dean turned to him, confused.

"We do?"

"Sure, Dean, what did you think the back seat of the car was for?

"…Do you _want_ me to answer that?"

"Get your mind out of the gutter, Dean, come on," Sam said before turning back to Danny. "You want to come with us?"

Danny felt something stir inside of him. Hope. This was his chance to get away from Amity Park, if only for the remainder of the break. "You would really let me?"

"Uh…," Dean tried to cut in the conversation, but Sam wouldn't let him.

"Sure we would! Just ask your mom, I'm sure she'd understand. It might even take off some of the pressure on her for you to be away for a while. Let her get better for a while, she needs some time alone. Without kids."

"Yeah…," Danny said, turning to look back inside where his mother still stood by the casket. "I'll ask her."

-

"Damnit!" Dean yelled angrily and Sam flinched. "We're hunters, Sam,_ hunters_! You can't go around asking fourteen year old kids if they want to take a road trip across America! We're going to be _hunting_! We're not even coming _back_ to Amity!"

Sam wasn't even aware of what he was doing before it was done. He had seen the last chance Dean would probably ever get to live, and he had grabbed it. It was so unexpectedly perfect—like it was _meant_ to happen. The boy had asked to join them! Now, there was no need to think about tying him up in the trunk and hiding him from Dean, and no leaving Dean to die. Totally win-win situation. Dean was bound to find out what the boy was for eventually, but for now, he was safe, and was that all that mattered. Dean would learn to forgive him. He would understand that one life _was_ worth sacrificing to save many others, especially after last week's incident. Sam had done a lot of thinking in between school and the funeral, and he had come to that conclusion. Dean could single handedly turn the war, and the demons knew it. His life was worth _thousands_ of pathetic fourteen year old boys. And so he had seized his chance, the boy was coming with them. They were in the car just outside FentonWorks, waiting for Danny to get his things.

"I get it, Dean, but his face—the look he gave us, it was so pitiful," Sam explained. "He'll be okay, he's the son of two ghost hunters, after all."

"Come on, Sam, he's fourteen years old."

"So? How old were _we_ when Dad started training us to hunt?"

"That's different," Dean said automatically, shifting in the seat of the car. "The kid looks like he couldn't lift his shoelaces, let alone a gun!"

"Dean, you're not giving him a chance," Sam was practically begging. This was Dean's life on the line, after all, even if he didn't know it himself. "Please. He needs this. Hell, _we_ might need this. You never know. What if we die or something? Who will take our place? We need to train _someone_ to do this." He was stretching it here, he knew that, but it seemed to do the trick.

"What are we, together? That's disgusting, Sam. And you won't die. I know you won't," Dean said with confidence, but Sam knew he was going to agree. Just a little more hounding, and he would crack.

"Please, for me, just give him a chance. I can't tell you why, but he _needs_ to come with us. Something's telling me to bring him with us. Please." Just a little more begging, add a little more subtle hinting about his "condition," and…

"Fine. Whatever. But you're gonna pay for him. Food, stuff, whatever kids need."

"Relax Dean, I'm the one who pays for everything anyway."

Dean made a face. "Shut up."

It seemed that Danny's mother, wrapped up in her grief and sorrow, was fine with the impromptu road trip, for the front door swung open and Danny walked out, stumbling under the weight of two heavy bags. Sam felt a sudden pang of guilt for Mrs. Fenton. Her husband had just died and now he was taking her son away, without plans for return. Technically, he was a kidnapper, come to take a child away from a family that had already suffered a tremendous blow.

"Great, he's taking too long," Dean growled. "Come on, Sam." He cut the engine and opened the car door. Sam followed him up the steps to the FentonWorks porch where Danny was struggling with his luggage.

"You bringin' your entire house?" Dean asked the boy rudely.

"Dean," Sam warned as he bent down to scoop up the kid's bags. Just then, the front door opened even wider to reveal a man who wore a black Armani suit and looked to be in his early forties.

"I really must thank you boys," the man began smoothly, but Dean cut him off with a gasp of surprise.

"Hey, I saw you on TV last night. You're the mayor!" he said excitedly. The man flashed a quick, practiced smile.

"Yes, Vlad Masters," he said, extending a hand. "As I was saying, his mother's going through a tough time, as you must know, and I really appreciate you taking her son off her hands for now."

In a rare moment of observance, Dean noticed his brother shift his weight on the welcome mat and the boy next to him growl and glare angrily at the man.

"Of course," he said, taking his hand and giving it a firm shake. "We totally understand. Losing someone is always tough. Well, we better be off!"

"Alright, but please, if anything should happen, don't hesitate to give me a call. Daniel knows my number."

"Okay, Vlad, we get it, already," Danny rushed. Dean nodded, grabbing one of Danny's bags, and turned back to his car.

"See you, Mr. Mayor."

They heard the front door close behind them and Danny sighed in relief.

"Why was the mayor at your house?" Sam asked almost immediately after they all heard the door's lock snap into place with a click.

Danny's scowl returned. "Picking up my mom on the rebound."

He sighed when both Sam and Dean looked at him quizzically. "Remember the story my parents told you about their college buddy?"

"You mean the one that had the accident with that freaky portal thing your parents were building?" Dean asked.

"Uh huh. That's him."

"Your parents' friend is the mayor?"

"And he's obsessed with my mom."

"Ouch," both brothers whistled in unison. Dean grunted with exertion as he hefted both bags into what little space was left in his trunk.

"Jeez, Danny, what did you bring?"

Danny cracked a smile. "Actually, I brought you guys a surprise." Before Dean closed the trunk, he unzipped the top of the heavier bag. Inside the bag was a heap of metallic weapons.

"Fenton Weapons. I practically brought you guys the whole arsenal."

Dean dove for the bag.

"No way," he breathed, digging through it and pulling out the Fenton Ghost Peeler. "What's this do?"

"Fenton Peeler. Peels the outer layer of energy off of ghosts," Danny explained almost automatically. Dean whistled and dumped it back into the bag, exchanging it for another weapon.

"And this?"

"Those are the Ghost Gauntlets. And yeah, before you ask, they all have stupid names." Sam laughed and picked up something small and flat from the bag.

"Woah, why did I put _that_ in there?" Danny laughed. "Uh, that's the Fenton Ghost Gabber."

"Uh that's the Fenton Ghost Gabber. Fear me," it said in a mechanical voice.

"What's it do?" Dean asked.

"Uh, it translates ghost language or something. Which is stupid, 'cause all of the ghosts I know speak English. Well, most of them, anyways. And for some reason, it trains into me and thinks I'm a ghost. Isn't that funny?" Sam didn't miss the nervous beat in his voice, but didn't say anything and set the device back down in the bag. Dean brought the bag to back seat instead of the trunk, and had Danny describe every single weapon in as much detail as possible after he started the car. Danny basically packed half his parents'—_mom's_—lab. From the Fenton Thermos, to the Boo-merang, it was all there.

"Wow," Dean laughed. He was beginning to see a new side to the boy. One he liked. "And this is for us? Danny, you don't know how much this means to me."

"You said you were professional ghost hunters," he shrugged. "And since you're helping me get out of town for a little while, it was the least I could do. Plus, I couldn't just leave them there and let Vlad take them. He's stolen like practically every weapon design my parents have ever come up with."

As the Winchester's Chevy drove past the town limits, it sped up. Danny and Dean laughed with joy as Dean dug his foot into the gas pedal, driving twice the speed limit. The two brothers had their guest describe every last detail of all the Fenton Inventions as the black car disappeared behind the horizon.


	6. Chapter 6

**Supernatural Retaliation**

Chapter Six

* * *

Danny Fenton wasn't at school the next day, and his two friends looked like they didn't want to be in school, either

Danny Fenton wasn't at school the next day, and his two friends looked like they didn't want to be in school, either. Mr. Fenton's funeral was scheduled around five thirty that afternoon, and it was open to all town citizens. It looked as if everyone in the classroom was planning on attending.

"Well, I hate being the bearer of bad news, so I won't be," Dean said gruffly, starting the class. "I bet you all heard about it as soon as it happened and I wholeheartedly recommend going to the funeral, if not to give condolences, to support your fellow classmate, Danny Fenton. If anyone wants to discuss anything, feel free to raise your hand, but keep in mind we have a schedule to keep…."

The rest of the day went by quickly and quietly. The students weren't talking nearly as much as they had been the day before. Everyone was looking over their shoulders and jumping at any sudden movements as if they were all going to be the next to die, because they were so shaken by what had happened the day before. Sam and Dean were also on high alert, constantly making sure the demon hadn't dared show its face again.

By the end of the school day, no one was speaking at all, save for the teachers, and the mood was dark and heavy. The last period students sat silently, listening to Dean half-heartedly attempt to lecture them about The Cat in the Hat (the last book he had ever picked up) and waiting for the bell to ring.

Sam had refused to lecture, forcing Dean to reluctantly take up the position, and instead, he had sat at Mr. Lancer's desk, contemplating yesterday's discussion with Ruby. He wouldn't exchange a life for a life. For one, if Dean ever found out, he would kill him, and for another, as a human being, he had morals. And swapping lives was obviously against them. But then again….

Ruby _was_ right. Dean had saved more people than he could probably even count. He was amazing and he never failed to bring down demons, vampires, and other monsters. And being free would definitely restore his original personality along with his self-respect.

Sam sighed. It was a hard decision, and definitely not one to be taken lightly. This was someone's life in his hands. Danny had just lost a father, the last thing he needed was for someone to come and sell his life and, ultimately, his _soul_ for someone else. Selling things to demons was never a good idea. Besides, how would he get Danny to the crossroads without Dean noticing, anyways? Tie him up and throw him in the trunk? The crossroads were a pretty long drive from Amity Park. It would take at least two days to get there.

"…and then the cat said that the pink cake was… oh, hell. Screw this. Look, everyone just read and do their homework and stuff over long weekend. Remember that you have next week off. So don't come to school, or you won't be able to get in the building. Have a happy break and don't die!"

As if on cue, the bell rang, and the students nodded and silently packed their things before filing out the door, leaving Sam and Dean alone.

"Dean, that probably wasn't the best thing to say to them when they've just gone through, like, five deaths," Sam said.

"So? Then why didn't you say anything, smart-ass?" Dean huffed angrily. "You left me there to lecture by myself, Sam, myself! I flunked out of school to be a hunter in _ninth_ _grade_!"

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry," Sam told him. "I'll make it up to you, okay?"

"Make it up to me? Did you buy me my own Chinese restaurant? 'Cause that would totally make up for the sweet-n-sour sauce you didn't get me yesterday."

"Dean, I told you I couldn't find it! Look," Sam stood from the padded swivel chair. "I've been doing some thinking, and… well, uh, I think it'd be best if we left town. Like now."

"Leave town? Sam, has Ruby brainwashed you?"

"No, but she was right, Dean! People have been dying. The demons _are_ following us!" Sam told him, desperately hoping he bought it.

"Sam, people were already dying before we got here."

Sam sighed, giving up. "Look, alright. You want the truth? I can't tell you _all_ of it, but if we stay here any longer…," he looked at his desk, playing innocent, and hinting at his "yellow-eyed condition." Dean always fell for that. "If we stay here any longer, I think I'm going to end up doing something I'll regret."

"What are you, an anti-marijuana commercial?"

"Look Dean, I already told you that I couldn't tell you the details," Sam said, his voice strained and desperate. "If we stay, I swear, I'll do something bad. Like, really bad. As in dead people. You don't want any more dead people, do you?"

"Sam," Dean said his voice becoming serious. "What's going on? What would you do?"

"Dean, you just have to trust me!" Sam cried, almost hysterically. "Please, can we just leave this town and forget about this?"

"S-sure," Dean said, his voice filled with understanding, although he really didn't understand at all. "Well leave after the funeral. I just want to give my condolences and see the kid one last time."

"Dean…," Sam sighed, but stopped himself. He had been intending to tell his brother that he wanted to leave right away and not be anywhere near the Fentons, but doing so would provide some clue as to why he wanted to leave in the first place. When he looked up, he saw Dean looking at him expectantly. "Uh, never mind."

Dean shrugged and exited the room, leaving Sam to follow in his wake.

* * *

Danny Fenton had spent the day holed up in his room, just thinking. His mother had called him to eat several times, but he had always refused. He spun around on his desk chair until he became dizzy and fell to the ground in a small heap. With a whole day alone on his hands, he had thought about practically everything, from the meaning of life to how he was going to act at the funeral that night to Vlad's behavior the day before. Vlad….

He was going to come in for the kill, Danny just knew it. He dismissed the fake consoling words and the weird hug from his mind as nothing more than guilt. He still blamed Vlad, and even if he had the proof that he was innocent right in front of him, Danny would just keep on blaming him. It just wasn't fair. He had been forced to break his promise. The one he had made over a year ago, right to his father's face.

"_I'll protect you, I _promise," he had told his family, just before time was reset. And now the promise was broken. What next, would he suddenly sprout fangs and a fire 'fro?

He tried separating himself from his feelings to achieve the weird distance he always felt whenever something bad happened, but found that he couldn't. All he felt was hurt. Like he had been cut, but deep inside his stomach. And it ached.

He suddenly realized that he no longer wanted to be where he was. All he wanted was a way out. He wanted to be far away from his house—from his town—and not have to worry about ghosts. He wouldn't be able to deal if one was to show. He would either break down, or destroy it for real, something he had never wanted to do to any ghost. His thoughts reverted back to Vlad and his father.

How dare Vlad do this to him? How dare he take his father away?

…And so his thought process repeated itself until his mother called for the fourth time that day.

"Danny," she said from behind his closed door. "It's time to go."

Time to go to the funeral. He slowly picked himself up from off the floor and opened his door. His mother was standing behind it with a straight face, completely dressed in black. Mourning clothes. Danny wasn't wearing them, but he wasn't about to change. He followed his mother to the car, where Jazz was already waiting, similarly dressed in all black. When she saw him, he could tell she was struggling to refrain from saying anything about his choice of clothing, but she kept her mouth closed.

When he got to the funeral home, he saw many people already there and even more people following him inside. All the dark and gloomy colors reminded him of Sam. Where was she? And, for that matter, where was Tuck?

Then he found them, standing silently in the corner, behind the field of adults flocking around the casket. He walked over to and stood beside them and they acknowledged him with sad, forced smiles.

That was basically how the entire funeral went: Danny standing silently with his friends in the corner receiving a few hugs, Jazz pathetically failing to make conversation with the people around her, and their mother, standing sadly at the head of the casket.

When it was over and everyone who could have offered condolences or shared an improvised speech about how much everyone had appreciated Jack Fenton, the people slowly began to disappear.

Danny's friends eventually left with their parents and he walked them to the door, silently waving goodbye. He watched sadly as they drove off, watching their cars as they disappeared into traffic.

"Hey." Danny spun on his heels, frightened by the suddenness of the man's voice, convinced it was a ghost or the demon thing from yesterday. He sighed in relief when he saw it was just Dean.

"Oh, you scared me," he said nervously. "Hey."

"We're going away for break soon, and we just dropped by to pay condolences."

"…oh."

"Yeah," Sam appeared behind him. "We're so-"

"Sorry, I know," Danny sighed, inspecting his converses. _They are really dirty_, he thought, _I should probably wash them_. "Everyone is."

Sam and Dean were quiet and Danny looked up at them. He struggled, thinking of anything he could say to break the awkward silence.

"So, you're leaving for break?"

"Yeah, just me, Sammy, 'n the '67."

"Your car?" he asked, oblivious to every car that wasn't the Monster Truck.

"Yep," Dean smiled.

"It's a cool car." Danny was really having trouble trying to keep the conversation going. But then, realization struck. "Would you… happen to have room for one more?" he asked, hesitantly.

Dean smiled sadly at the poor boy in front of him. "Look, kid-"

"Of course we do!" Sam suddenly and Dean turned to him, confused.

"We do?"

"Sure, Dean, what did you think the back seat of the car was for?

"…Do you _want_ me to answer that?"

"Get your mind out of the gutter, Dean, come on," Sam said before turning back to Danny. "You want to come with us?"

Danny felt something stir inside of him. Hope. This was his chance to get away from Amity Park, if only for the remainder of the break. "You would really let me?"

"Uh…," Dean tried to cut in the conversation, but Sam wouldn't let him.

"Sure we would! Just ask your mom, I'm sure she'd understand. It might even take off some of the pressure on her for you to be away for a while. Let her get better for a while, she needs some time alone. Without kids."

"Yeah…," Danny said, turning to look back inside where his mother still stood by the casket. "I'll ask her."

-

"Damnit!" Dean yelled angrily and Sam flinched. "We're hunters, Sam,_ hunters_! You can't go around asking fourteen year old kids if they want to take a road trip across America! We're going to be _hunting_! We're not even coming _back_ to Amity!"

Sam wasn't even aware of what he was doing before it was done. He had seen the last chance Dean would probably ever get to live, and he had grabbed it. It was so unexpectedly perfect—like it was _meant_ to happen. The boy had asked to join them! Now, there was no need to think about tying him up in the trunk and hiding him from Dean, and no leaving Dean to die. Totally win-win situation. Dean was bound to find out what the boy was for eventually, but for now, he was safe, and was that all that mattered. Dean would learn to forgive him. He would understand that one life _was_ worth sacrificing to save many others, especially after last week's incident. Sam had done a lot of thinking in between school and the funeral, and he had come to that conclusion. Dean could single handedly turn the war, and the demons knew it. His life was worth _thousands_ of pathetic fourteen year old boys. And so he had seized his chance, the boy was coming with them. They were in the car just outside FentonWorks, waiting for Danny to get his things.

"I get it, Dean, but his face—the look he gave us, it was so pitiful," Sam explained. "He'll be okay, he's the son of two ghost hunters, after all."

"Come on, Sam, he's fourteen years old."

"So? How old were _we_ when Dad started training us to hunt?"

"That's different," Dean said automatically, shifting in the seat of the car. "The kid looks like he couldn't lift his shoelaces, let alone a gun!"

"Dean, you're not giving him a chance," Sam was practically begging. This was Dean's life on the line, after all, even if he didn't know it himself. "Please. He needs this. Hell, _we_ might need this. You never know. What if we die or something? Who will take our place? We need to train _someone_ to do this." He was stretching it here, he knew that, but it seemed to do the trick.

"What are we, together? That's disgusting, Sam. And you won't die. I know you won't," Dean said with confidence, but Sam knew he was going to agree. Just a little more hounding, and he would crack.

"Please, for me, just give him a chance. I can't tell you why, but he _needs_ to come with us. Something's telling me to bring him with us. Please." Just a little more begging, add a little more subtle hinting about his "condition," and…

"Fine. Whatever. But you're gonna pay for him. Food, stuff, whatever kids need."

"Relax Dean, I'm the one who pays for everything anyway."

Dean made a face. "Shut up."

It seemed that Danny's mother, wrapped up in her grief and sorrow, was fine with the impromptu road trip, for the front door swung open and Danny walked out, stumbling under the weight of two heavy bags. Sam felt a sudden pang of guilt for Mrs. Fenton. Her husband had just died and now he was taking her son away, without plans for return. Technically, he was a kidnapper, come to take a child away from a family that had already suffered a tremendous blow.

"Great, he's taking too long," Dean growled. "Come on, Sam." He cut the engine and opened the car door. Sam followed him up the steps to the FentonWorks porch where Danny was struggling with his luggage.

"You bringin' your entire house?" Dean asked the boy rudely.

"Dean," Sam warned as he bent down to scoop up the kid's bags. Just then, the front door opened even wider to reveal a man who wore a black Armani suit and looked to be in his early forties.

"I really must thank you boys," the man began smoothly, but Dean cut him off with a gasp of surprise.

"Hey, I saw you on TV last night. You're the mayor!" he said excitedly. The man flashed a quick, practiced smile.

"Yes, Vlad Masters," he said, extending a hand. "As I was saying, his mother's going through a tough time, as you must know, and I really appreciate you taking her son off her hands for now."

In a rare moment of observance, Dean noticed his brother shift his weight on the welcome mat and the boy next to him growl and glare angrily at the man.

"Of course," he said, taking his hand and giving it a firm shake. "We totally understand. Losing someone is always tough. Well, we better be off!"

"Alright, but please, if anything should happen, don't hesitate to give me a call. Daniel knows my number."

"Okay, Vlad, we get it, already," Danny rushed. Dean nodded, grabbing one of Danny's bags, and turned back to his car.

"See you, Mr. Mayor."

They heard the front door close behind them and Danny sighed in relief.

"Why was the mayor at your house?" Sam asked almost immediately after they all heard the door's lock snap into place with a click.

Danny's scowl returned. "Picking up my mom on the rebound."

He sighed when both Sam and Dean looked at him quizzically. "Remember the story my parents told you about their college buddy?"

"You mean the one that had the accident with that freaky portal thing your parents were building?" Dean asked.

"Uh huh. That's him."

"Your parents' friend is the mayor?"

"And he's obsessed with my mom."

"Ouch," both brothers whistled in unison. Dean grunted with exertion as he hefted both bags into what little space was left in his trunk.

"Jeez, Danny, what did you bring?"

Danny cracked a smile. "Actually, I brought you guys a surprise." Before Dean closed the trunk, he unzipped the top of the heavier bag. Inside the bag was a heap of metallic weapons.

"Fenton Weapons. I practically brought you guys the whole arsenal."

Dean dove for the bag.

"No way," he breathed, digging through it and pulling out the Fenton Ghost Peeler. "What's this do?"

"Fenton Peeler. Peels the outer layer of energy off of ghosts," Danny explained almost automatically. Dean whistled and dumped it back into the bag, exchanging it for another weapon.

"And this?"

"Those are the Ghost Gauntlets. And yeah, before you ask, they all have stupid names." Sam laughed and picked up something small and flat from the bag.

"Woah, why did I put _that_ in there?" Danny laughed. "Uh, that's the Fenton Ghost Gabber."

"Uh that's the Fenton Ghost Gabber. Fear me," it said in a mechanical voice.

"What's it do?" Dean asked.

"Uh, it translates ghost language or something. Which is stupid, 'cause all of the ghosts I know speak English. Well, most of them, anyways. And for some reason, it trains into me and thinks I'm a ghost. Isn't that funny?" Sam didn't miss the nervous beat in his voice, but didn't say anything and set the device back down in the bag. Dean brought the bag to back seat instead of the trunk, and had Danny describe every single weapon in as much detail as possible after he started the car. Danny basically packed half his parents'—_mom's_—lab. From the Fenton Thermos, to the Boo-merang, it was all there.

"Wow," Dean laughed. He was beginning to see a new side to the boy. One he liked. "And this is for us? Danny, you don't know how much this means to me."

"You said you were professional ghost hunters," he shrugged. "And since you're helping me get out of town for a little while, it was the least I could do. Plus, I couldn't just leave them there and let Vlad take them. He's stolen like practically every weapon design my parents have ever come up with."

As the Winchester's Chevy drove past the town limits, it sped up. Danny and Dean laughed with joy as Dean dug his foot into the gas pedal, driving twice the speed limit. The two brothers had their guest describe every last detail of all the Fenton Inventions as the black car disappeared behind the horizon.

* * *

**A/N: **Thanks for reviewing!

**Mutant Lover**: I think about it like this: if I was rich enough to own more than one house, I wouldn't be staying in just one. Plus, mayors are allowed breaks. They don't have to stay in town all the time, do they?


	7. Chapter 7

**Supernatural Retaliation**

Chapter Seven

* * *

"So what time do you normally wake up?"

Ever since Danny had gone through with the first gesture of friendship by bringing a whole bag of paranormal weapons, Dean had found himself growing attached to the kid. Danny had a quirky, laid-back sort of attitude that was easy to tolerate.

"Um, I sleep as late as I can, but normally that's not very long," Danny shrugged, mentally directing all his hatred towards Skulker and the Box Ghost for continuously haunting Amity Park before sunrise until very late at night. "Why?"

"Just warning you, Sammy and I are early birds," Dean said as he drummed his fingers in time to the beat of the music playing on the oldies country rock station that was blaring from the radio. "Anyways, we got about thirty minutes 'til we reach a pit stop. We'll stay for the night and decide where to go from there."

Danny sighed at the trees as they flew past his window. "This is so cool," he said, mostly to himself. "This is like a real road trip. And we don't actually have to _be_ anywhere, we're just driving. It's awesome."

"Eh, well, you know Sammy and I are hunters, so we just decide where we're going by whatever we hear."

"How do you hear stuff?" Danny's interest piqued. "How many hunters do you guys know?"

"We don't really know that many hunters. Good ones that are still alive, I mean. We just go by ear. Read the paper and stuff. It's easy to trace the undead by the amount of deaths in the area. If there's more dead people 'n usual, it's normally a pretty good sign that something's going on."

They had been on the road for roughly four hours now, and, according to the slightly torn laminated map that lay flattened out on the dashboard in front of Sam, they were nearing the state border. Sam had called Bobby a couple of minutes earlier and confirmed the location of the nearest hunter bar, which was only a few hours away from the highway they were presently speeding down.

"Oh. That's cool, I guess," Danny said, slightly disappointed. It would have been nice to meet other people who hunted dead things. He didn't know any hunters besides his parents, Valerie, and, to some extent, Vlad. And even then, they only hunted ghosts.

"You _guess_?" Sam laughed. "This is our life, Dan."

"It's really cool!" Danny put a little more enthusiasm into the correction of his mistake. "But can you call me Danny, please?"

Dean snorted at this. "What about _Daniel_?" Danny didn't reply, but instead conveyed his thoughts with an angry glare. "Oh, come on! Mr. Mayor gets to."

The boy faked an angry huff and, crossing his arms, he turned away from Dean back to the window to hide his smile.

-

It was midnight and Danny had passed out by the time Dean finally pulled into the parking lot of a run-down motel located in the middle of a small town called Shantonville. Sam woke with a startled grunt as Dean cut the engine.

"We there already?"

"Yep."

Sam sat up with a yawn, rubbing his eyes to stay awake. "Okay. He still asleep?" When Dean looked behind their seats at Danny and nodded in affirmation, Sam continued, "Uh, alright, you take the kid, I'll grab his stuff and get us a room."

Sam wandered off with their combined luggage, which, overall, was pretty light, as Dean hopped out of the car. After stretching to further wake himself up, he opened the door to the backseat of the car.

"Danny," he whispered, giving the sleeping boy a hard poke in the shoulder. "Da-_anny_."

Danny slowly opened his eyes.

"We there?" he said tiredly.

"Yep, get up kid, Sam's got your stuff. As soon as we get inside, you can go back to sleep."

Danny nodded and slowly followed Dean inside the motel. Dean lead the way to the outside of new room, and Danny sat down, leaning against the wall as they waited for Sam to come with the keys. As soon as his bottom hit the floor, he was out again like a light, unaware of his surroundings for the rest of the night.

-

Dropping their things by the motel entrance, Sam walked inside to find the front desk. It was dark and dusty, and the room was empty. Near the middle of the room was a small desk, which he assumed was the reception desk. To the right of Sam was a small table supporting a vas of dead flowers and a dusty lamp, the only light in the room.

"Hello?" he called, his voice eerily loud compared to the silence of the place. "Anyone here?"

Silence.

"Hel-_lo_," he repeated, louder this time. He slapped his side in frustration and cursed. Turning, Sam decided they were going to have to break into one of the rooms. He bent down to pick up the bags, but immediately stopped short when the soft glow of the desk lamp flickered. He slowly straightened himself, abandoning the bags and instead looking around cautiously. He turned and inspected the room through narrowed eyes, taking in every detail and watching for any signs of movement while his hand slowly crept to the inside of his jacket and his fingers grazed his silver knife.

"Do you talk to your mother with that mouth?"

Sam jumped in surprise and spun around when Ruby suddenly appeared from behind him.

"Ruby!" he gasped, chest heaving from a rush of adrenaline. "Stop doing that!"

"Looks like you took my advice, Sammy," Ruby smiled, flashing pearly white teeth that glowed in the darkness of the room. "You grabbed the kiddo."

Sam frowned as his breathing slowed. Anger for the demon in front of him returned. "Yeah. Looks like," he said quietly.

"Aw, Sam, don't carry hard feelings. You know I was right, that it was the only way to save Dean." Sam inspected the ground under him as Ruby continued, "You knew it from the very beginning, didn't you? Well? Didn't you?"

"Alright, alright! I admit it! I did. I knew I was going to grab the kid!" Sam cried, exasperated and very upset that he had taken her advice and abandoned his morals. "It sucks, but I can't live without Dean! He's my brother, okay? No one can blame me for it, I just did what had to be done! I-!"

"Shh, Sam, calm down. I'm not accusing you of anything. You're right. Dean needs to live," Ruby patted his shoulder soothingly. She looked up into Sam's face and smiled with genuine emotions. "I'm just here to give some advice, okay?" Sam nodded and she went on. "Sam, since you're going to give him up, you can't allow yourself to become attached to the kid. I mean, it. You can't laugh at his jokes, you can't tuck him into bed, you can't kiss his boo-boos, you probably shouldn't even talk to him. Find his flaws. Hate him for them. That's the only way you'll be able to go through with this."

Sam didn't reply, but sighed heavily through his nose, his lips pressed together in a thin line.

"I just don't understand why a demon would want Danny over Dean. What does he have that Dean doesn't? Our dad was a hunter—so it can't be just because his mom's a hunter. Why? Why would a demon want him?"

It was Ruby's turn to remain silent. She smiled again, apologetically this time, and handed him a set of keys.

"Those are to your room. Make sure you get to the crossroads, Sam. Don't let anything happen to him."

And with that, she was gone, leaving Sam panting heavily, still upset and surprised by his own outburst.

* * *

"Up and at 'em, Danny!"

"Aah!"

Danny was startled awake. He opened his eyes to find himself in one of the most run-down motels he had ever been to. There were two beds, one of which he was sleeping on, and a couch. There was a fridge in the corner that had to have been smaller than half the one he had at home. The bare light bulb hanging down from the ceiling was cracked and dirty. He saw Sam sitting in a small chair next to an outlet so he was able to use his laptop. Dean was standing directly over Danny's bed with an annoying, wide-awake smile. Overall, the room and his surroundings sort of disgusted him. But he had never felt so rested in his life.

Since they were both hunters, Sam and Dean made him feel safe. And now that he was far away from Amity Park, he no longer had to worry about ghosts. He was free. Free to sleep, free to not care where the hell he was, and free to not care about his and others' safety. For now, that was up to his "student teachers." The very thought made him giddy with happiness and overwhelming joy. He was finally free to act his age. _Freedom!_

"Go away," he said, rolling over, his smile hidden by his pillow. Well, it wasn't like he was going to pretend to be wide awake when a few more minutes of sleep never hurt anyone. Dean ripped the pillow out from under Danny's head.

"Get up." Taking the pillow with him, Dean walked over to the corner of the room Sam was sitting in, and threw it at his feet. "Find anything yet?"

"Nah, just, you know, normal stuff so far."

"Okey-dokey, then," he said, walking into the bathroom to get ready for the day. "Five minutes 'til we leave this dump and get to a diner. I'm dyin' for some coffee."

-

"Thanks…Marge," Dean said, flashing a flirtatious smile to the waitress who brought him his coffee as he read her nametag.

"Welcome, sugar," she replied sweetly, turning to Danny and Sam. "You two sure you don't want anything?"

Sam waved a hand over the top of his laptop that was sitting on the table, indicating he wanted nothing. "Nothing for me, thanks."

Danny made a contemplative face before nodding. "Actually, could I get some pancakes? With… um, chocolate chips and some milk?" He waited for Marge to nod and write his order on her notepad before adding, "Awesome, thanks!"

Dean sipped his coffee noisily. "Ah, that's good coffee. Find anything yet, Sam?"

"Actually, yeah." Sam cleared his throat, opening the local newspaper on his lap. "'Nicky Pemberton, 21, claims someone broke into her house Tuesday night and killed her only son, Johnny, of four years,'" he read. Skimming through the rest of the article, he told Dean, "All evidence is against her; she's on trial, now. They're going to throw her in jail."

"Well, how do you know she just isn't a crazy?" Dean asked, downing the rest of the mug in his hands.

"It says here that all her family has been offed at different times, all of them recently," Sam said, motioning to the screen of his laptop. "She's got no one left."

"Huh." Dean laced his fingers together, thinking hard. "That sounds a little familiar, doesn't it, Danny?"

"Wha-? Oh, uh… I don't know," Danny stuttered, surprised he was being included in the conversation.

"Mikey Johnson. Family all gone, leavin' him all alone for last, picked off one at a time."

"Oh." Danny swallowed hard at the connection Dean had drawn between the two incidents.

"'Oh,'" is right. "Looks like we've got the same nasty demon on our hands."

"That's weird. I thought he was after that ghost kid."

"You're right," Dean frowned. Suddenly, an idea struck him. "Oh! Wait! Danny, hey, what do you know about that ghost kid? Uh, Danny Phantom or somethin'. Heh—that's funny, your names-"

"Uh, didn't you read my essay?" Danny shifted nervously in his seat, his voice wavering slightly.

"Shit! That's right! Sam, where are those essays? We never got a chance to read them."

Sam looked up at Dean from behind the monitor of his laptop. "Uh, I think they're still in the car. My briefcase is under the backseat."

"Alright!" Dean smiled. "We'll read through those, see if we can get any clues about what that dead kid wants, and, more importantly, what the demon wants. Wanna help, Danny?"

"Um, sure." Danny had never felt so included by adults before. He was slowly realizing that not all old people were bad (Vlad), delusional (his father), or trying to hunt him down (GiW, his mother, the list goes on.) Some of them could be pretty decent.

When they got back to the car, Sam reached behind his seat and pulled out a large briefcase. Upon opening it, papers fell out all over the car.

"Shit." Scooping up and handing several papers to Dean and Danny, he sat down in the seat next to Dean, picking up a few for himself. "Just yell if you find somethin'."

Danny shuffled the papers in his hands. Putting the rest of the stack on the seat beside him, he picked the first page off the top.

"Oh, jeez," he muttered to himself. Of course, the first on he picked up would be Valerie's. He was actually slightly curious as to what she had to say about his ghost half. And for that matter, what the rest of the class had to say.

He gulped as he read the first sentence of her essay. _"The ghost kid is nothing but a menace to the citizens of Amity Park."_ Half tempted to just set it back down, he gulped and pushed himself to finish it. _"He has tricked many of my peers and even some of the adults into thinking he is the best thing that has ever happened to the town. I used to think the complete opposite until a recent incident had shown me how impossible it is for him to be exactly like the other ghosts."_ Danny smiled at this. Maybe Valerie was turning. Maybe she would be able to see the light—that he wasn't really a bad ghost. _"First off, none of the other ghosts like him. That has to say something about his personality."_ Danny blinked. He had never thought about it that way. He had always figured he was completely human, obligated to live with humans. He had a family, friends, school…. He had never thought about what Valerie must think about his ghost half. He put himself in her shoes and decided that he would figure that Danny Phantom was a ghost that lived in the Ghost Zone, just like the rest of them. And, he realized, she must also think of him as a weird outcast of a ghost, since he really didn't have too many ghostly friends. He didn't know how much he liked that. _"Either he's really bad news, or they all believe he's in league with the humans, against them."_

Danny slowly set her essay back down on the leather seat beside him. He had been sure that she had written something about his strengths or his weaknesses, or something equally as private. He never expected her to compare him to other ghosts. He quickly picked up the wrinkled, messy paper under it.

The next: Dash's. _Wonderful,_ Danny thought to himself. _"Danny Fantum is the coolest. he safed me once. their was a metul gost chazen us and he ulmost got us to!"_ Danny could hardly read his essay. The rest of it was basically the same; uninformative and laced with spelling mistakes.

There were only two more essays. Paulina's and Tucker's. He picked up Paulina's first, eager to read the praise she probably showered him with.

_"Danny Phantom is soooo cute! He's hotter than any boy I could find at this school. Why aren't there any hotter boys? Dean, if your reading this, do you want to hang some time?"_

Only two sentences out of the four were about him. What a waste. He threw it back down and picked up Tucker's.

"Hey, think I found something!" Dean interrupted both him and Sam from reading any further. "From Star's essay," he continued. But he frowned as he re-skimmed through her essay. "No, wait. I lied. Absolutely nothing. Everyone keeps talkin' about how 'cool' he is. Doesn't anyone know _anything_ about this guy?"

Danny shrugged before returning his attention to Tucker's essay.

_"Phantom seems like an okay ghost. I wouldn't know too much about him. If you read this before looking at Danny's, I would suggest reading Danny's first 'cause, like Dash said, his parents are ghost hunters."_

Also sweet and to the point. Minus the sweet. Danny could practically hear Tucker laughing. He would make him pay for referring to him!

Setting the last essay down, he looked up. "So…. Find anything?"

Dean threw his stack of essays behind him on top of Danny's. Sam did the same.

"No. Nothin'. Not even your essay helped."

"Oh, heh, yeah, sorry. I don't really know much about him. He's never been caught by ghost hunters before."

"Huh. Well, Sammy, looks like we're gonna have to do some more research. You have fun," he said, starting the car. Sam glared at him, but didn't say anything as he continued to type on his laptop.

* * *

**A/N: **Shit! I just watched the latest ep. online and it's like the first time I've actually been scared by Supernatural. When it first came on, I was totally like wtf, but then it actually freaked me out. Originally, my goal was to make this story a sort of drama, but it inspired me to try to add a little scare factor. I don't know if I can 'cause it's writing and not video, but still. I try.

I can't wait for the next one when he hears from his dad. That's so gonna screw with this story. Hooray.

Thanks for reviewing!

**Dizappearingirl:** Holy crap you're right! I never even gave it a second thought. I don't know what I can do about it except blame it on Danny's grief. Hmm, you're the first to find a loophole in my story. Yay.

**MutantLover09:** Second one! Haha. Yeah, guess I didn't really think it through. I was in desperate need of a plot device. Oh, and I knew Vlad already had three houses, one in Wisconsin, one in Amity, one "somewhere over the Rockies," but you're probably right, he probably spends most of his time in Amity now that he's mayor (hitting on Danny's mom, haha.) And you're thinking on the same track as I am, but the main problem is, will Sam find out about Danny in time? (not to give anything away...hehe.)


	8. Chapter 8

**Supernatural Retaliation**

Chapter Eight

* * *

"So what're we doin' now?" Dean all but belched as he threw an empty bottle of beer across the room so it broke into pieces against the wall. He was lying fully clothed on the stiff motel bed, head propped up on a pile of Danny's and his brother's combined flat pillows, watching daytime television.

"Dean, I thought you were more mature than that," Sam said from Dean's left over the lid of his Dell as he glanced at the broken shards of Corona Light.

"What?" his brother asked innocently, his gaze returning from Sam back to the T.V. as he flipped through more channels. "Hey, did you know Ellen's having Brad Pitt guest star today? Now I _gotta_ watch-"

"No, Dean, don't care," Sam interrupted before his brother could go off on a tangent. "Anyways, I found something."

Dean's eyes never left the screen. "Huh." Sam waited patiently for his brother to look at him before continuing. After several seconds of Ellen DeGeneres talking about Dove shampoo, Dean lazily hit the power on the remote and faced his brother. "Well, what did you _find_?"

"Well, I didn't find anything so much as narrow it down," Sam finally said after rolling his eyes. "It's either a Cratoa or something completely different."

"A what-a what-a?"

"Cratoa. Soul-sucker," Sam read from his outdated laptop. "Works by creating frightening illusions and killing off one family member at a time. Scares and kills the strongest ones first, usually the dad, and works its way down the family until the most cowardly is the only one left standing."

"In other words, it feeds off of people's fear," Dean summarized. "Great."

"Now _that_ sounds familiar," Danny interrupted their conversation as he emerged from the tiny bathroom. Dean turned from his brother to Danny, whose hair was sopping wet since he had just taken a quick, cold shower. His hair left water stains on his white tee and faded blue jeans.

"What sounds familiar?" the oldest hunter asked him, surprised he had been listening in. "And get a towel, you're getting everything wet."

Danny sighed heavily as he re-entered the bathroom and came back out with a small white towel. "We had one back home who took energy from depressed or scared people," he said, slinging the towel around his neck to catch stray drops of water. "She was our school psychologist."

"Wow, gotta admit, that's pretty clever for a demon."

Danny had long since come to terms with the fact that there were such things as demons, but that didn't mean it still didn't bothered him. "Oh, no, she wasn't a… demon. She was just a normal ghost."

"A normal ghost?" Dean asked. "What's a _normal_ ghost?"

"You know…." Danny searched his mind for a sufficient answer. What _was_ a normal ghost? "Ecto-manifestations of post-human consciousness?"

Both Dean and Sam snorted at his explanation, though Sam tried to cover his with a fake cough to not show any sign that he had even been listening to the boy.

"And cue the Fenton weaponry," Dean laughed. "Did your parents beat that stuff into your head?"

"Well, I guess you could say that." Danny ran a hand through the almost dry hair on his neck. _Literally._

Dean smiled, thinking that maybe the boy wasn't so much different than himself. They both had at least one whacko parent who forced them to learn how to never let their guard down and defeat the supernatural. Sam might not have been too far off when he said Danny might be able to help them. Maybe the kid could actually be something. All he needed was a little more training and a lot more muscle.

"Ahem." Sam cleared his throat, regaining his brother's attention. "Maybe we can work on it more at that hunter's bar. You know, ask around."

"Ah, Sammy!" Dean waved a hand in exasperation. "Since when do other hunters know anything?"

"Since we're not from here," his brother replied slowly, as if Dean was stupid. He finally sighed, giving up the big surprise he had been saving. "Fine. Bobby said he'd try to meet us. Wanted it to be a surprise."

Dean smiled. "Okay, only if you're buying. I'll pretend I didn't know Bobby was coming. I just want some more of my friend, Bud. No more Light, please, thank you."

Sam rolled his eyes again. "Just get in the car."

"Come on, kid." Dean put an arm around Danny's shoulders after throwing his towel on the ground. "I bet this is your first time in a bar."

-

Danny soon found himself coughing in a small bar full of cigarette smoke. "Jeez!" he choked as the man next to him broke open yet another Camel box.

"You get used to it," Dean patted him on the back before looking down at a laminated card in his hands he had produced from seemingly nowhere. "Uh, Mr. Mc—McFenton."

Danny followed the hunter's gaze and his jaw dropped in a combination of ecstatic joy and shock. "Oh, man, you didn't!" he cried, grabbing the card out of Dean's hands to look at it himself. A small picture of a smiling boy that wasn't him—but was close enough, with a small face and black hair—was in the left top corner of a college ID card, and underneath it was a fake set of dates and numbers. "I'm twenty-one!" he cried, fisting the air.

"Yeah, and you go to community college. Sorry 'bout that, but with your grades—"

"McFenton?" Danny interrupted, not particularly caring about his grades at the moment.

"Yeah," Dean smiled. "You don't really strike me as the lovin' type, so I just stuck your real name on the end. Trust me, much better than what Sammy, got."

"Harry Pitts _again_?" Sam asked from Dean's other side, flipping his fake ID over in his hands. "I'm not about to start shaving."

"I thought it was so ingenious, it should be used twice," Dean explained, lifting a mug of dark beer to his lips.

"Oh, no." A voice came from behind the three of them. "You ain't seriously got a _kid_ with you, do you?"

Dean choked on his drink before spinning around on the swivel bar stool. "Bobby!" Bobby stood impatiently behind them in business clothes with several books in his hands, as Dean, Sam and Danny looked him over. "Wow, you clean up nice."

"Don't expect me to go to a library all dirty, do you?" he huffed. "Now explain to me what you're doing in a _bar _with a _kid_."

"Oh!" Dean realized they had forgotten to notify Bobby about Danny. "Bobby, this is Danny. He's staying with us for a couple of days. You know…uh, for…fun."

"Fun?" Bobby grabbed Dean's and Danny's wrists. "You come outside, boy, I'll _show_ you-"

"Wait!" Danny cried to the bartender as Bobby dragged him off the stool and out of the bar. "Can I get a Tequila Sunrise to go?"

-

"Dammit, Bobby, why didn't Sammy get any special treatment?" Dean asked, rubbing his bruising wrist where Bobby had grabbed him. They were now outside of the bar, standing in the half-empty parking lot. It was almost noon, and Bobby was furious.

"He wan't doin' nothin'. I'm a hundred percent sure it was your idea to take the kid so you could get 'im wasted. That's exactly what you need. To corrupt as many kids as you can before you get dragged down to he-" Bobby was suddenly aware of Danny's presence, and he cut himself short. Turning back to Dean, he glared. "-before you have to _go_."

Dean looked down at his feet, pretending to be ashamed for Bobby's sake.

"Uh, sir, I can explain-" Danny tried to tell him, but Bobby held up a hand for silence.

"No, kid, I don't need you to tell me it wasn't his fault when I know for sure it damn well was. Now get your ass on in the car, we're goin' back to my place. I got a couple o' dogs you can play with while the adults talk."

Danny stamped his feet in indignation, angry because he had just gotten used to adults including him in time for an even _older_ adult to treating them all like children, but Bobby ignored him. Dean gave Danny a small wink in order to silently convey that he should just play along, but Danny returned the gesture with a frown and followed Sam and Bobby into the Chevy.

-

The next thing Danny knew, he was in an isolated barnyard with two smelly dogs for company, supposedly waiting for "the adults" to finish talking. He snorted. _Yeah, right_, he thought. _Thank God for intangibility._

His physical form flickered and suddenly, he was no longer visible. The overgrown dogs whined in terror when Danny intangibly ran from the barn to Bobby's house. As soon as he got to the outside wall, he half-phased through it, half inside and half outside, and strained to hear the conversation taking place behind the living room wall.

The first thing Danny picked up was Dean's voice.

"…man, you don't know how much we missed you, Bobby."

A deep chuckle, and then— "Awh, I missed you boys, too. But don't try to shirk out of that explanation. What the hell are you thinkin', bringin' a kid with you? Tryin' to kill 'im?"

"Actually-" Dean tried to defend himself, but Sam cut him off.

"Actually, it was my idea." Pause. "Bobby, don't look at me like that. We're chasing the demon right now. The one that got his father. He begged us to come, and the only thing to do was say yes. He looked like he really needed a break."

Someone sighed deeply.

"You coulda—_shoulda_ said no. But then you'd have no one to tell you about those ghosts. Just like you, Sam, always tryin' to learn more. But don't get yourself caught up in things over your head. This is a _kid_ you got on your hands. 'Nother life to protect. Hey, where do you think you're goin'?"

"Bathroom," Dean's voice answered and Danny heard footsteps walking out of the tiny kitchen.

A door closed shut and Bobby sighed deeply.

"Sammy, what's wrong?" he asked as soon as Dean was out of hearing range.

"What?" Sam answered defensively. "Nothing's wrong. Why?"

"Boy, I know when you're lying. You haven't said a single word to me since I saw you."

"Nothing's—it's nothing." Danny couldn't see Sam, and yet somehow even _he_ knew he was lying.

"You know you can tell me anything, Sam."

A sharp breath, and then— "Someone might have told me a way out of Dean's-"

A low whine cut him off, and Danny heard heavy boots scuff the tile floor, instantly assuming Sam had just spun around.

"What's wrong?" Bobby asked again. Danny didn't know who he was talking to until a small, anxious yap filled the silence. A dog. Bobby was talking to a dog.

"Sam, grab the salt. There's something out there," he whispered urgently. "Wait a sec, are we forgettin' anything?"

There was a small pause before both Bobby and Sam exclaimed the same thing in horror. "The boy!"

-

Danny quickly pulled out of the house and regained tangibility. He had to get back to the barn before Sam or Bobby found him!

Still invisible, he flew as fast as he could back to where they had left him. He dropped to the ground. Figures Bobby's dogs might be attuned to the supernatural and that he just _might_ have set them off. Sighing, he fell backwards into a large pile of hay. They had almost gotten to the good stuff. He could have discovered some really great secrets.

The back door of Bobby's house flew open with a clack of cheap wood against even cheaper brick.

"Danny!"

"Dan-_ny_!"

They called his name loudly and urgently, as if there was a demon on the loose in the backyard.

"Coming!" he yelled back, running away from the smelly barn to the two adults. "What is it?" he asked innocently, once he reached them.

"Get inside, hurry!" Bobby grabbed his arm and started pulling him towards the house.

"Hey!" Danny cried, once they were safely indoors. Sam began pouring salt under the windowsills as Bobby informed Dean about what was going on. Danny rubbed his wrist, a _second_ bruise in the shape of Bobby's fingerprints slowly forming. "Ow! Don't you know how much that hurts?"

"It's okay, Cornelius," Dean smirked, still upset about the fact that he was the only one who had been berated by Bobby. "You can cry."

Danny glared at him and turned away, dropping his hands to his sides.

Bobby rolled his eyes at their immaturity and turned to Sam. "You almost got every opening?"

Sam nodded. "Just gotta get the door-"

"Wait!" a female voice called from behind the screen door. They all turned to see who it was.

"Ruby?" Sam asked, and tilted the bag of salt upright, so salt was no longer flying all over the place.

"Yes. Just have some news. If you'll let me in."

"What news could someone like you _possibly_-"

"Bobby, it's okay," Dean said, opening the door to let Ruby inside. "Just tell us what you got, Ruby, and leave."

"Don't forget who you're dealing with," she growled at his authoritative tone. He didn't reply and she looked around the room at the three surprised faces, her eyes finally resting on Danny. "I finally get to meet you," she smiled.

Danny narrowed his eyes as he felt his face flush in a wave of nausea and heat. The same feeling he had gotten when he met his first demon. "You're a demon," he whispered. Backing away and turning to Sam, he said louder, "She's a demon!"

"Yeah, good call," Dean laughed. "You know, if she wasn't on our side, we'd've been attacked by now."

"Well, how was I supposed to know?" he muttered under his breath. Eyes still narrowed, he offered her his hand.

"Danny," he mumbled his name.

"Charmed," she smirked, extending her hand to shake his. Their hands met, and Danny felt the heat spike. The both of them yelped and pulled away, as a spark flew between their fingers, shocking the both of them. Where his palm had met hers, a large burn was forming, deforming the top layer of his skin. Ruby felt a burning sensation on her hand and looked down to discover a layer of frost coated her palm, like freezer burn.

"Oh," she giggled nervously, releasing a heavy breath as she hid her burn by dropping her hands at her sides. Danny had also dropped his.

Bobby, Sam, and Dean wore poorly disguised suspicious expressions as they looked between the two.

"What-" Sam was about to ask what had happened, but Ruby interrupted him.

"Uh, I just came by to drop off some news," she said, turning away from Danny and ignoring his intense glare.

"Shoot," Dean told her and she sighed.

"About that demon you're following. I wanted to help."

"Uh-huh…."

"A little word to the wise," she began. "Leave him alone."

"Leave 'im alone?" Dean asked in surprise. "What the hell are you tryin' to do? Make us quit? 'Cause we've been at our jobs for more than half our lives."

"Quit your jobs?" Ruby replied in shock. "What-?"

"First you ask us to leave town when we're hot on the tail of this demon, and then you tell us to leave him alone completely? No, I don't think so."

"No!" She waved at him in exasperation. "Shut up. You have no idea what you're talking about. What I'm talking about. That demon is not only a powerful illusionist; he's _her_ right hand man!"

"Her?"

"Lilith!" she lowered her voice sufficiently. "The one after your guts. The one that's been following you around for who knows _how_ long! I don't even know why I bother, it's so dangerous for me to even _be_ here and you're so ungrateful!"

Silence. Sam, Bobby, and Danny shifted their weight, nervously waiting for Dean's reaction to her outburst. When he did nothing, Ruby turned to leave through the door.

"Whatever, I'm leaving," she said. "Good luck, Sam, you better not chicken out."

When she was gone and out of hearing range, Dean and Bobby turned to Sam expectantly. "Good luck with what?"

Sam looked away, focusing on the pot on Bobby's stove. "Nothing. I don't know what she means."

"Sam," Dean whispered, the angry warning clear in his voice.

"I _said_ I don't know what she means!" Sam growled at him before turning back to Bobby. "Look, I don't care what Ruby says, we're finishing that demon and then I'm headed west to Colorado," he finished, stalking out of Bobby's house to the car.

Danny hesitated to ask, "What's in Colorado?" but when he did, no one answered. Dean and Bobby knew what was in Colorado. The Gates to Hell, the Crossroads, and, most importantly, John Winchester's grave.

* * *

**A/N:** Well this chapter was exciting for a filler. Danny gets to go to his first bar, meets Bobby and Ruby, and almost overhears Sam. Thanks for reviewing! I'm so gratefull you all had so much constructive crit. I loved them, they were so long!

**Dizappearingirl:** Haha yes totally male bonding time! There's gonna be alot more of that since it's so cute and Sam and Dean are sooo hot. IDK how much Dean and Sam are going to see of Phantom, though, Danny's got to keep his secret on the low, but I'll try to bring him up in conversation for you.

Thanks again guys for reviewing!


	9. Chapter 9

**Supernatural Retaliation**

Chapter Nine

* * *

"No, seriously, what's in Colorado?"

Danny tried to pry the reason of Sam's outburst from Dean and Bobby, but they both refused to give him a direct answer.

"Nothin' you need to worry about," Dean said gruffly without a smile. Danny was aware of the sudden shift in mood, but he didn't let it deter him from trying to figure out what was going on.

"Okay, then," he huffed exasperatedly. "Who was that demon?"

Dean rolled his eyes as he closed a small, musty planner book and stuffed it inside his jacket pocket and turned to the back door Sam had used only minutes ago.

"Just some demon who's obsessed with Sammy, okay? Why do you need to know everything?"

"I just want to know what's going to happen now."

"Nothin's happenin' now," Dean pushed the door open and held it for Danny. "Just get in the car, Sam's in a bad enough mood, he'll drive away without us. See ya 'round, Bobby."

Bobby waved and shouted a short, "Take care, boys! Call me if you need anything!" as Danny and Dean walked back to the car.

-

The car ride was relatively quiet. The tension between Dean and Sam was all too apparent to Danny, who awkwardly fiddled around with Sam's briefcase of fake IDs.

"Heh, you have licenses in like, every state," he said, trying to make conversation.

Dean's grip on the wheel tightened and Sam turned his head to face the window. Neither one answered him, and he bit his lip and continued to shift through driver's licenses, police badges, and other assorted identification.

Sam watched passively as tree after tree after tree passed by his window. He was angry and upset, not specifically at Dean, but at his situation. He didn't like the fact that both Dean and Bobby didn't trust him and he knew what they must be thinking, what their logic must be. They thought that being targeted by the yellow-eyed demon and coming back from the dead didn't add up to a particularly naïve or innocent personality, which was what he knew everyone had thought of him as _before_ dying and gaining temporary mind powers, even _before_ he turned to hunting. Little Sammy, smart kid of the family, not really useful in terms of capturing demons and saving lives. That's what he used to be. But he was still the same little boy, nothing had changed Or had it?

_What happened?_ he wondered._ What's been happening to me these past few months? To us?_

He decided he didn't want to think about it. The complexities of and doubts he had about the usefulness of his job didn't make for very joyful thinking. So instead, he thought about what he was going to do now, with Danny, with the loose demon, with Ruby, everything. He felt hesitant about giving Ruby the satisfaction of knowing she was right about him, that he would choose his brother over a helpless kid, no matter what morals had to be broken. Doing so would prove that in reality, Sam didn't have anyone to live for but himself and his brother. His life was measured by the amount of demons he killed, not by how happy he was, whether or not he had a wife and kids, or the amount of money to his name, like everyone else's.

But that's the way it had to be. _Some_one had to do their job, and if not him and Dean, who else?

There were those morbid thoughts again. He redirected them to something a little more productive: the demon. If he were a demon who fed off of fear, where would he go?

Where would the most fear be?

But no matter how much he thought about it, in the end, Sam couldn't come up with a single lead. The demon could be anywhere.

"Dean," he finally said. "Where are we going?"

"Back to the motel," Dean grumbled over ACDC's guitar and drums duo. "Figured we'd get rested, brainstorm. I don't know, can't think of anything."

"Yeah," Sam said, looking down at his hands as he twiddled his thumbs. "Me neither. Actually, it's getting kind of late," he continued, catching sight of his Fossil. "Dinner?"

"Sure," Dean grunted, starting to look around for a place to eat.

A few minutes later, he pulled into the drive of a China Buffet.

"Chinese, Dean?" Sam said, looking at the large blinking neon OPEN sign. "Seriously?"

"Yeah, I figured I needed to make up for that sweet-'n-sour sauce you lost."

Instantly, any and all bad feelings disappeared from the air as Sam raised both hands defensively.

"_I_ lost it?" he asked and Danny laughed at their immaturity, reminded of all the fights he had had with Jazz.

"Yeah, you lost it," Dean cracked a smile. "You were the one who was supposed to go get it. What do you think happened to it? It got up and walked away?"

"Well _no_," Sam snorted, getting out of the car to follow his brother into the restaurant. "Coming Danny?" Dean asked and Sam paused to wait for him.

"Of course!"

And once again, all was right with the world, at least for the time being.

-

"Ah, Chinese beer," Dean sighed contentedly as he put the mug of Tsingtao back on the hardwood table. "The good stuff."

"Fried rice, please," Danny said, as a pretty Chinese waitress passed his chair. She nodded and left to get his food. Suddenly, the door of the restaurant opened to reveal a large family. Three young children paraded through the door, followed by two teens and two adults, one of which was carrying a baby.

"Wow, a family of eight," Danny said, raising his eyebrows at the large family, not noticing the waitress as she set a bowl of fried rice on the table in front of him. Turning back to Sam, he said, "That's a pretty big family, huh?"

Sam grunted in affirmation, nodding his head nonchalantly in a way that just screamed, "I don't really care about your opinion." It created a sort of awkward silence as Danny frowned at the putdown. But Dean didn't catch on.

"Yeah, that _is_ a lot of kids," he whistled, staring at the family. "Damn, could you even imagine?"

Together, Sam, Dean, and Danny ate a total of eight eggrolls, two carryout boxes full of rice, five boxes of noodles, orange chicken, and veggies. They sat after dinner looking at the empty boxes and picking at crumbs and remnants of their meal before they leaned back and stretched out in their seats, hands on their bloated stomachs.

"Ah, this is the life, eh, Sammy?" Dean asked as he trailed his index finger along his plate before popping it into his mouth.

Sam belched in reply. "Oh, 'scuse me," he said apologetically.

"I'll take that as a yes," Dean smirked. "What about you, Danny?"

"Anything other than Fenton Toast and FrankenWeenies…," the boy trailed off contentedly.

-

Later that night, Danny found himself flipping through channels on the television, while Dean was taking a shower and brushing his teeth and Sam silently hacked away at the keyboard on his computer. Danny got the feeling Sam didn't like him too much and he just couldn't understand why. In the beginning, when they were his teachers, Sam liked him more than Dean had, but now he practically considered Dean a good friend. Had he done something wrong? Was it something he said or did? _Maybe…_, he thought nervously to himself, _maybe Sam knows or senses my secret._ But that didn't make sense. What reason would Sam have to sit passively at the same time he held the knowledge only several humans knew?

Danny was interrupted from scaring himself any further when the bathroom door opened, allowing a large amount of steam to flow out into the room. Dean appeared, wearing nothing but comfy pants, ready for sleep.

"Huh," he said, looking around the room at its two occupants. "I ain't tired yet. Gonna go out."

"Out where?" Sam asked in a monotone voice, his eyes glued to the monitor of his laptop.

"Out_side_, Sherlock. I'm goin' stargazin'."

_That_ made Sam look up. "What?"

"Well, I figure if I only got so much time 'til—" he paused as his eyes flickered to where Danny lay on the couch, pretending not to listen to his conversation and failing. "To _enjoy_ myself, I gotta make the most of it." Sam bit his lip as Dean turned to Danny. "Wanna come, little man?"

"Sure!" Danny exclaimed happily, unaware of the tension between the two brothers.

"Sam?"

"Can't. Researching."

"Oh, come on!" Dean waved a hand. "Just for a few minutes! It's nice out!"

Sam slowly looked up from his computer and Dean didn't miss the way his eyes moved ever so slightly to the boy beside him. "No," he said slowly, deliberately. And, as if he forgot, he added, "Thank you."

Dean shrugged and threw the flimsy door of the no-tel motel open. Danny followed him outside, sparing one last fleeting glance at Sam before skipping down the steps into the warm summer night.

Dean produced a bottle of Bud Light from his jacket pocket before sitting down on a dilapidated old picnic table with a sigh of relief. Danny silently sat down next to him.

"What I wouldn't give for a girl right now…," Dean trailed off, mostly talking to himself. Danny made a face, but understood him.

"Hmm," he sighed through his nose, smiling as he looked upwards. The sky was filled with billions of stars, all glowing brightly in the absence of city lights.

"You got a girlfriend, kid?" Dean asked Danny as he stared at the silhouetted outline of the town.

"Hmm? Oh, no."

"Got a girl in mind?"

Danny blushed. "Oh! Heh, no, not…not…."

"Don't worry, I won't force it outta you."

Danny coughed in embarrassment. "Nah, it's just—I don't know…. Confused I guess."

Dean chortled heartily, but didn't press the boy. "Anyways, I just…. Can I ask you a question?"

"Sure," Danny shrugged. "Shoot."

"How're you—" Dean began, not sure how to phrase it. "How are you takin' things with, you know….your dad?"

"My…. Oh." Danny let out a long sigh. "My dad. I don't know. He was always such a klutz, but somehow, whenever things were too tight, he could always lighten up the mood. It's gonna be hard without him. But I guess I'm doing better now. "

"Good to hear. I just wanted to let you know…," Dean dropped his head, and he studied his beer before taking a swig. "Just wanted to let you know that Sammy and I know what you're going through."

"You do?"

"Yeah." Dean tried to smile. "Dad died. 'Bout a year ago."

"Oh, wow. I'm—"

"Yeah, yeah. Don't say it," he interrupted him with a real smile this time. "We're good. It's just… I miss him so goddamned much, you know?"

Danny's gaze fell from the sky to his shoelaces as he said quietly, "Yeah. I know." Looking up at Dean, he asked, "What about your mom?"

Dean downed the last of the beer and threw the empty bottle towards the sidewalk and it shattered immediately upon impact, sending shards of glass flying everywhere. "Died too. But don't worry, happened when I was five. Don't remember too much." _Lie._

Danny looked down at his shoes, expecting Dean to be finished, but the man pulled out yet another bottle of beer and kept talking after he twisted off the cap. "You know, even thought I don't know her… I miss 'er like hell. Not that I miss hell, no."

"Where did you get that?" Danny asked, eyeing the beer Dean had produced from seemingly nowhere. "How many bottles have you had today?"

Dean shrugged, but otherwise ignored the boy. After taking a large swig that emptied half the bottle, he leaned back on the edge of the picnic table and continued, "No way, José, am I gonna miss that shithole."

"Dean, what are you _talking_ about?" Danny asked, sitting up, suddenly alarmed by Dean's state.  
Dean shrugged again. "I guess there's no point in keepin' it from ya, though Sam didn't want you to know," he said, his words slightly beginning to run together. "I'm goin' there. To hell."

"What-?"

"Hell," he clarified, as if it was that simple. "Traded my soul for Sammy's. Little Sammy!" he cried, laughing. "I'm gonna become a demon. Haha!"

Danny wasn't one to take advantage of others, especially not his friends, but he was too curious not to milk Dean of everything he had. Danny, realizing that it was near close to impossible for him to live the way he thought Sam and Dean did, cut off from the outside world, devoid of any social life, was thirsty for information.

"…A demon?" He gave Dean a questioning look.

Dean laughed again, finishing the rest of the bottle before letting it slip out of his hands onto the patio under his feet. "You're more smart than you let on. Like that 'bout you. You look like a normal kid, but…. 'Nyway, yep. Sam died. Didn't we tell you?" he slurred, leaning his head back onto the table and looking back to the stars. "Oh that's right. You just got here."

"Huh?"

"Sammy died. Killed by the demon that killed our dad. Well, technically, anyway."

"Oh my G-…." Danny brought a hand to his mouth. "Is he a ghost?"

"Ghost?" Dean's brows furrowed together. "Nah, ghosts—pathetic…oh, yeah…your parents…." Danny frowned as Dean's ability to string sentences together slowly faded. "Went to th' crossroads demon, traded my soul for his. Said I had a year to live—year's almost up…."

"Dean, that's horrible!" Danny said in alarm. "That's…-"

He was interrupted from saying anything further to the older hunter when a loud snore sounded from beside him. He turned his head from the stars to find the older hunter beside him, hands behind his head on the picnic table and eyes closed, fast asleep.

-

Sam had tried everything. From googling "deaths in Yellow County" to going through his dad's old journal. He couldn't find a single thing. Everything led to a dead end.

"Dammit," he whispered to himself, flipping the journal onto the bed in frustration. He threw himself onto the bed, deciding to give up for the night. His mind was totally blank, and unless he had some rest, he'd never be able to think of a solution. He grabbed the remote and turned on the television to make himself tired.

"…_and neighboring city, Amity Park is equally at loss for any compensational funds for the family of the murder victims, but Amity's mayor will campaign for a county-wide upgrade in terms of social and economical security-_"

Sam quickly flipped the channel. The dead of Amity Park was the last thing he wanted to think about. "_…in other news, happy father of seventeen is said to be the father of the largest family in the US. He and his wife, Charlotte, are being funded by Gerber Baby-_"

Sam's jaw dropped.

"Of course! That's it!" he cried, dropping the remote in happiness. "The family!"

The more people for the demon to kill off, the more fear there was. Since the demon had followed them to Amity Park, it had probably followed them to their current location, so the next most likely target would be the family of eight. He threw himself off the bed, and ran through the sliding glass door. Pushing it open, called out to his brother.

"Dean! _Dean!_"

"Shh!" came the reply. Blinking as his eyes adapted to the darkness, Sam saw the sleeping form of his brother lying on a picnic table, and Danny, finger pressed firmly on his mouth in a quieting gesture.

"He's _sleeping_?" Sam asked in surprise, momentarily forgetting that he was trying not to talk to the boy. "Dammit, I finally have something!"

"He's _so_ wasted," the boy replied. "But that figures."

"'Figures?'" Sam echoed, wondering why it could possibly have been expected.

"I would probably stock up on the margaritas too, if I were going to hell."

* * *

_Beta for this chapter:_ **MutantLover09**

**A/N:** You guys are probably getting annoyed with me. Another chapter and _still_ no action. Tell me what you think!


	10. Chapter 10

**Supernautral Retaliation**

Chapter Ten

* * *

Sam stiffened and his nostrils flared.

"How'd you find out about that?" he asked quietly, surprise clearly evident in his voice.

"Like I said," Danny replied in the same uncaring tone that Sam had used earlier on him as he looked over his shoulder at Dean. "Completely wasted."

Sam face grew stony as he clenched his fists and took several calming breaths._ Looks like I'm not gonna have to fake hating him after all. _"Who the hell do you think you are?" he exclaimed, advancing forward several steps. "You don't know _anything_ about my brother! About us!"

Danny immediately stood up and took several lateral steps away from Sam, aware of the anger in the experienced hunter's voice. "Woah, man, there's no need to get angry!" Holding his hands up innocently, he continued, "I didn't know, okay? Why would you take me with you on this trip if you have a serious problem like this? No wonder Dean didn't like me at first—he doesn't have _time_ for me! What were you thinking?"

Sam suddenly sobered up and stood straight. "I-"

He was interrupted by a low moan from his brother.

"_Oh_," the man whined, bringing a hand slowly up to his forehead. "My head _kills_."

Sam and Danny turned to face him.

"Dean, wake up," Sam commanded harshly. "I've got a lead."

"What?" Dean had yet to even open his eyes.

"A lead." He took several more steps forward to his brother and Danny scrambled out of his way as Sam slung Dean's arm around his shoulder. His voice was strained as he hefted helped brother onto his feet. "Come on."

Dean aknowledged his brother's help with nothing but an, "I think I'm gonna throw up."

-

"Sam, we gotta get some coffee or somethin'," Dean said as he slowly shut the shotgun door of his car with a gentle, inaudible click. "My head's about to freakin' explode."

"Sure, whatever you want. But we need to get on this case," Sam told his brother as he slammed the driver's door shut. "I have a feeling that this demon's going to show soon."

"Not so loud, Sam!" Dean begged and his hands flew to his forehead.

"So I'm assuming we're not sleeping tonight?" Danny asked from the backseat.

"We can sleep when we're dead," Sam told him as he started the engine and it purred to life.

"Great. Danny won't have to wait too long." Sam's mouth snapped shut and Dean leaned his head back onto the headrest. Danny frowned sadly and looked down at his hands. "So where're we goin'?" Dean asked, seemingly unaware of the tension he had created by dropping the one-liner.

Sam didn't answer at first, still upset about what his brother had just implied.

"To find out where that family went," he answered after a pause.

"What family?"

"Remember what I told you about that demon? How it feeds off fear?"

"Yeah."

"Then that family eight would practically be a freaking buffet to him."

Dean looked over at his brother. "When'd you get smart?" he laughed. "Oh yeah, after your muscles took a rain check when you hit puberty." That earned a chuckle from Danny and a punch from Sam. "Ow! Haha, almost as bad as little Danny back there."

Danny gasped, jokingly offended. "Hey!"

He shoved his lanky arm between the two of them and clenched his fist as hard as he could.

"There! See?" he said, twisting his wrist and marveling at his practically non-existant biceps. "_That's_ muscle."

The three of them laughed as the Chevy sped up on the long stretch of highway.

-

"That Chinese lady sounded like she knew freakin' everything about everyone," Dean said, sipping herbal tea fom a styrofoam cup with a plastic lid. It wasn't coffee, but apparently it worked just as well for hangovers. "I forgot to ask her if she knows where Waldo's hiding."

"She probably does know everything. This is a pretty small town," Sam replied as he looked down at his map, ignoring Dean's joke. They had asked the Chinese Buffet restaurant staff if they knew anything about the family of eight, and the oldest one, a gossipy lady, told them who they were and where they lived.

"Wow," Danny said boredly, looking back at the restaurant as Sam pulled the Chevy into gear and drove out of the parking lot. "And here I was, thinking that your job was hard."

"Oh, boy," Dean laughed, almost spilling the hot tea in his hands. "Aren't you cute? This ain't the hard part, kid."

"So what is?"

"The _fun_ part. The part where we kill those damned bitches of hell."

"Oh, yeah. That just sounds like _tons _of fun," Danny said sarcastically, rolling his eyes.

"Trust me, it is. It's gotta be, to be worth this shit," Dean replied snidely, motioning to the Chinese Buffet.

A few minutes later, they pulled up to a large suburban house with toys strewn all over the front lawn. The lights were all off, and the house looked asleep for the night.

"That's gotta be them," Dean said, hopping out of the car and dumping his drink.

"That's the biggest house I've ever seen!" Danny cried, pressing his hands against the glass window of the car to get a better look. He moved to exit, but Dean pushed him back inside.

"And you're not going inside."

"What!" The boy's expression of excitement melted into one of betrayal. "Why?"

"Not safe," Sam grunted as he straightened the suit he had just put on. "Stay in the car."

"We'll be back later." Dean smiled as he slammed the door, ignoring Danny's puppy dog eyes. "Have fun, Cindy Lou."

Together, he and his brother walked up to the front door. They brushed off and straightened their suits before pushing the doorbell.

Nothing happened for several moments, and Dean decided it was best to check inside. He looked behind him at his car where Danny was waiting rather impatiently before turning around and pushing the door.

It swung open with surprising and eerie ease and Dean looked at his brother, who returned the look questioningly. Dean shrugged and continued on into the house.

"Hello?" he called and his voice echoed off the walls. "Anyone home?"

Both brothers stiffened as a wailing noise sounded from under their feet. Their hands went straight for their weapons.

"The basement," Dean whispered, and Sam nodded. They tip-toed to an open door and hesitantly pushed it open with a small shove before raising their weapons. The door contained a flight of downward steps leading down to exactly what they were looking for, the basement.

"_No_," the wailing voice sobbed. "This can't be happening! Jered, can't be-!"

That wasn't the only voice they heard. There were several other, much younger voices, that were sobbing terrified tears and whining pitifully. Sam nodded again to Dean and together, they ran down the last few stairs.

"Nobody move!" Dean bellowed, raising his weapon. He looked around the room and once he sensed there was no threat, he lowered it. Beside him, he heard his brother's sharply inhale. The room was full of the family. Seven of them were hunched over and hugging with wide, scared eyes. The father was lying motionless several feet away from them on the floor in a pool of thick red liquid that could only have been blood. But that wasn't what had stolen Sam's breath.

On the opposite wall, written in dark red that they sincerely hoped was just paint, was a message. Not for the family, not for the police, but for them.

_Winchesters, _

_Are you up for a game __of hide-and-go-seek?_

_I'm on Maple Street _

_Come find me_

Dean licked his lips as brows furrowed in frustration. "Nuh-uh."

-

Danny twiddled his thumbs, humming to himself quietly to keep busy in the darkness of the car as he waited for the two hunters to return. He was surprised when the front door of the house was thrown open with a loud clatter of wood on brick and sprinkle of broken glass. The brothers bolted out of the house and were in the car faster than Danny could even blink. Before he knew what had happened, the car had already started and they were speeding towards the intersection.

"What happened?" he asked.

"That fu-"

"-Dean!-"

"-_freakin'_ bitch!" Dean cried, slamming his hands on the wheel and ignoring Danny completely. He pressed down on the gas pedal even harder and Danny was pushed back into his seat by the speed of the car.

"Slow down!"

"You're not driving anymore, Sam!" Dean yelled. "I am! I can't believe it thinks it's important enough to waste our time! _My_ time, Sam! _Mine_!"

"Well—" Sam began, but Dean cut him off.

"Do you know how many days I have?" he asked in a chillingly angry voice. "_Do_ you?"

The silence grew. "Four," Sam whispered to the dashboard.

"This sure as hell ain't what I wanted to be doin' with that time! Wastin' our time with a freeloading-..."

"I know, Dean, but listen," Sam licked his lips, unsure of where to begin and a little unnerved by the speed the car had reached. "Will you slow down?" The car slowed and the speedometer changed by 20 mph. "Thanks. Listen, it's gonna go fast. We'll catch its sorry ass tonight. Then you're free to do whatever you want. And I've almost found a way to get you out of your deal, so it's okay!"

"What way?" Dean asked.

"Not important. It's for real, though. I swear, you'll be a hundred percent alive."

"No. I want to know what you're thinking of."

Danny was completely forgotten as Sam looked over at his brother. "I'll do anything—_anything_—to keep you alive. I don't care if that means eating fingers, drinking blood, or killing innocent people—Dean, you're worth it."

"What innocent people?" Dean asked, alarmed, as he spun the steering wheel to the right. "Sammy, what-?"

"It was just hypothetical, okay?" Sam growled, turning away. "Jesus."

"Ain't here," Dean finished for him. "Do I take a left now?"

"No," Sam replied, looking down at the map in his lap. "Another right."

-

"We're here."

Pulling up to the only house on the street, Dean cranked open the window and stuck out his head to get a better look. This house was larger than the last one, and much more run-down. It was your typical haunted mansion.

"Shit." Dean punched the door. "Just great. Why do demons like shit houses? Get your flashlight, Sam."

Both brothers opened their doors and stepped out of the car. Danny made yet another move to follow them, but this time Sam pushed him back inside and closed the door.

"You're staying here."

"I know I don't look like I can fight, but I can, I swear!" Danny whined. "Just let me prove-"

"We don't have time for this, Danny," Dean said, closing his door. "You're staying. It's way too dangerous."

Walking away, Sam and Dean flipped on their flashlights and pointed them at the house. Dean looked up at the balcony as they walked up the porch steps. The steps smelled like mold and creaked noisily in protest of their weight. There was nothing but silence and the midnight air was still. He reached the last step and put his foot down. It gave way, almost instantaneously breaking in half. Dean fell forward, but Sam caught and steadied him.

"Klutz," he whispered jokingly.

Dean glared at his brother and tore himself away from his brother's grip. "Bitch."

-

Danny angrily threw himself into the leather seat and crossed his arms.

"Oh, he's only fourteen, what can he do?" he mimicked Sam using a very feminine falsetto.

"I don't know, Sam." He continued talking to himself, but deepened his voice for a better impersonation of Dean. "Look at him, he's a kid. Nothing like that damn Danny Phantom."

"Oh, Dean," Danny again switched his voice for Sam. "I blush every time you swear. And for the record I use Aveena Flower Power Shampoo. That's why my hair's so straight and shiny."

Puffing out his chest for Dean: "Kiss me."

He uncrossed his arms to make hand puppets and smashed his fingers together for a big, fake, angry kiss.

Once he was satisfied that he had got back at and made fun of the two hunters enough, he threw his hands in the air and sighed.

"Stay in the car my ass."

Danny willed his right hand intangible and plunged it through the door. Feeling around, he found the lock mechanism and carefully pushed it upwards. When it clicked, Danny smiled happily.

"Always wanted to do that," he said to himself as he pulled the door handle open. "Like CSI or something. So much cooler than just simply phasing out."

-

"Hello?" Dean called and his voice echoed through the seemingly empty house. "We know you're here, you fugly sonovabitch."

Nothing. Dean raised his gun and pointed it directly in front of him at the dark corners of the foyer.

"Dean," Sam began, doing the same as his brother and raising his pistol. "Do you think this was-?"

A sadistic laugh sounded from the walls of the house and the front door slammed shut behind them, plunging the two brothers into an almost complete darkness.

"-a trap?" Dean finished weakly, and the brothers shared an uneasy silence as they searched for any sign of movement, weapons at the ready. "Yeah, maybe just a little."

There was nothing. The only thing that greeted them was silence as it settled once again throughout the house. Outside, they heard a small noise. A barely audible click, and then a much louder one.

Sam and Dean's eyes widened as the sound of a car door slamming reached their ears. They slowly turned to face each other, their faces sporting identical expressions of horror.

"Danny!" they whispered in unison and they spun and sprinted to the door. Dean grabbed the handle and twisted as hard as he could, praying that the demon was stupid and didn't think to lock it. But he had no such luck. The door was locked twice over, from the outside and held shut with a strong, demonic force.

"Damn it, we're locked in," he growled in angry frustration and began banging with his fists as hard as he could on the door. "Stay in the damn car, Danny!"

-

Danny hopped out of the car and slammed the door behind him. It was warm, perfect, cloudless night out. Not a night to be hunting, but a night to be floating through the air wth ease underneath the bright, full moon.

Danny took a second to look up at the beautiful sky and imagined himself flying through it as Danny Phantom, just like he did when he was at home. He never realized how much he took his alone time for granted.

Just as he closed his eyes to take it all in, he felt a rush of unwanted heat wash over his chest and head and a wave of nausea overcome his stomach. His cheeks, he was sure, became tinged with the glow of a fever. But he knew this was no fever.

Looking around on the alert, he searched for any sign of the supernatural. He scanned the outline of the house where Sam and Dean were inside hunting. Changing into Danny Phantom now would be too close for comfort. They might see him.

Danny slowly walked over to the porch steps where he noticed that the screen door, unlike the main front door, was hanging wide open. Danny turned to look over his shoulder one last time at the black Impala waiting in the shadows of the trees before he headed up the porch stairs.

"Dean?" he called, taking the first step. "Sam? You guys okay?"

Silence except for a faint pounding noise. "Guys?"

A whoosh of fabric and the click of metal caught his eyes and ears behind him and he spun around. A tall man in a leather jacket, who could only have been the demon, was smiling sadistically at him with a gun aimed in front of him, straight at his chest.

"Hey, there, Danny."

Danny's eyes widened. He should have known better than to turn his back. Sure, he had had quite a few guns pointed at him in his time, but this was different. This gun was loaded with bullets, not rays of energy. Bullets that, in his human form, could very well kill him, and in truth, if fired, probably would.

-

"We're stuck!" Dean said after he had pounded on the door for several good minutes. He raised his voice and bellowed as loud as he could, "Danny! If you can hear this, HELP!"

Sam dropped his head into his hands. "It's no use, Dean. He can't hear us."

The both of them tensed when they heard a high pitched scream of, "Let me go!"

"Oh no." Dean shook his head. "No, no, no, no, no. It's _not_ going after Danny."

He resumed pounding on the door and Sam felt a sudden pang of fear course through his heart. If the demon hurt or killed Danny…. _There will be no one to trade for Dean's soul._

"Dean, the window!" he cried, looking around for moonlight. He picked up a plank of moldy wood he had pulled up from the floorboards, and held it like a bat as he approached a large window.

Dean stopped pounding on the door and watched Sam. Sam prepared to swing at the glass, but suddenly he dropped the plank and crumpled to the floor with his head in his hands.

"Sam!" Dean cried in alarm as his brother rolled onto his side and began groaning in agony. He ran to Sam and rubbed his shoulder before turning him over on his back. "Sam, what is it?"

"My head," Sam gasped between groans of pain. "…Vision."

"Dammit, not now!" Dean had thought that they had left for good. "Stay with me, Sam. Sam!"

Dean slapped his face gently to keep him awake, but he was already gone.

-

The pain suddenly stopped and Sam woke up in a different place. He was no longer trapped in the crumbling old mansion, but was standing in run-down apartment flat. Looking around, he saw all this things spread out on shelves. He blinked. He had never fully unpacked when he stopped at apartments and motels. Why would he have all his things out now?

"Jimmy!"

A man's drunken holler called from the open space of his shattered window. Sam blinked at the man on the opposite side of the thin wall, trying to decide what to do. The man was obviously drunk out of his mind.

"Jimmy, unlock the fuckin' door!"

A bottle of Corona flew through the broken window and shattered threateningly on the opposite wall. Sam reached into his jacket pocket for his knife and moved to open the door, but an oddly familiar voice called from behind him and he froze.

"'M comin', dude!"

Sam spun around and dropped his weapon in surprise. He saw none other than _himself_ emerge from the bathroom. It seemed that his other self, "Jimmy," couldn't see him as Sam watched as he walked to the front door without taking precautions to grab a weapon. He noticed with distaste that his doppelganger had really let himself go. His hair was long and messy and his XL tee was stained and hanging off of his torso like loose skin. The other him, who Sam decided to refer to as Jimmy since he was obviously using a fake alias and it was confusing to refer to him as himself, threw open the door and greeted the two drunk men on the other side with open arms.

They slapped hands in a drunken shake and laughed.

"Bring the beer?" "Jimmy" asked.

"Yeah, stole a whole keg from the party down the street," the fatter of the two men told him. Looking around, he said, "Nice apartment you got here."

"Yeah, I broke in. The owners didn't even notice." Jimmy took the keg out of his hands and frowned. "But you already drank, like, half of it, guys."

"Oh yeah," one of them hiccupped. "Sorry."

The real Sam felt a pang of fear as the fake one shrugged and filled an empty bottle he picked up from the floor.

"'S okay," Jimmy slurred before downing a huge mouthful of beer. "Already had a couple."

Sam looked around the room and his eyes widened. There were more than "just a couple" of empty bottles lying around. There were at least six, most of them crackend or lying in pieces scattered all over the thin carpet. _Didn't know I could drink so much._

Rather than wasting time watching himself and some strangers get drunk, he decided to search the room. Jimmy and his friends didn't seem to notice him, but he was definitely solid in this world. He picked up a leather bag he found lying on the floor beside the bed and opened it. There was nothing inside.

He turned to the bedside table for anything that would help him escape. There was nothing useful except Dean's car keys laying on the surface, so he opened the drawer. Feeling around inside, he picked up something thin and rectangular. A picture. On the back was written, _Love you, man._ Sam flipped it over to see the picture side, and frowned. It was the old photo of him and his brother in front of their old house. In reality, he had left that photo at his father's storage room back in Oklahoma. There would be only one reason why he would ever carry it around with him.

Looking over the picture at the dumpy room, he realized that there was only one bed. He stuffed the photo into his jacket pocket and rushed to the bathroom.

"One toothbrush...," he whispered to himself. Looking at the towel rack he continued, "One towel, one comb, _one_ cell phone. Where's Dean's stuff?"

But he knew where it was. It was either buried deep underground or incinerated. He had escaped the crumbling mansion only to become trapped inside his worst nightmare; Dean was long gone.

_-_

"Where are they?" Danny whispered.

"Oh," the man shrugged, pocketing the weapon. "Close by. It doesn't really matter."

"Where _are_ they?" Danny repeated, fear beginning to creep into his voice.

"I'm bringing three of the several most infamous hunters down, one by one. And you're first."

Nothing had touched him, but Danny was flung across the porch until he hit an exterior wall. An invisible force was holding him against the wall and he was unable to move anything but his head.

"Let me go!" he screamed, struggling to pull himself off the wall. Try as he might, he was unable to phase through the it, so he quickly decided that there was only one thing left to do.

Two glowing rings formed around his waist, forming half-circles where they collided with the brick wall. They began travelling up his torso and down his legs, but just as suddenly as they had appeared, they stopped.

"Ah, ah, ah." The demon raised his hand, palm facing Danny, and his eyes flickered from a dark hazel to completely black. The two rings changed direction, moving back towards where they first formed at his waist. Danny's face scrunched in concentration, trying desperately to keep the rings from coming back together. He cried out as the pain became too great and the rings conjoined at his waist and died out. His shoulders slumped as exhaustion overtook him.

"And I thought you were going to play hard-to-get. They said you were strong. You're pathetic."

The demon's eyes closed and its frown contorted into a deranged grin as Danny felt something invade his mind. He tried to fight it, but the force was too strong and fast. As soon as it had come, it was gone and Danny found himself staring into the pitiless black eyes of his demon captor.

"You could be great," the demon whispered. "Why are you so scared?"

"Scared of what?" Danny grunted between gasps of air. The force on his body was crushing his chest and lungs. "I'm not… scared of you."

The demon threw back his head as he laughed. "I can see that. But I know what you _are_ scared of."

Danny's brows furrowed together in confusion. "What?"

Suddenly to force on his body was gone, and Danny dropped to the ground. The demon took several steps away from him and even as a shadow covered its whole body, Danny could see it smiling knowingly. He stared as its face began deforming and changing shape.

"What are you _doing_?" Danny gasped as he watched the demon's face become rounder, his muscles become larger, and his legs become longer.

"See, Danny. _I_ may not be what you fear the most, but I have to power to become it, to make you think about it."

The demon stopped changing shape and Danny's eyes widened when he saw what it had become.

"I can also read minds, so I know," it whispered. "I know you'd do anything not to grow up. Not to become this."

The demon took a step forward out of the shadows and the moonlight hit his face, revealing a young human man in his mid-twenties who sported startling blue eyes and a sharp, black goatee.

"No…," Danny whispered. It was him in eight years. Him at age twenty-four, frozen in time, just as the memory of him at that age always would be.

"No? I'm wrong?" the demon laughed, tugging at the jacket that replaced Danny's signature tee. His eyes flashed a deep red and he tossed a silver dented old thermos into the air, catching it as it fell back down. "This doesn't scare you?"

-

Sam flew out of the bathroom and ran at his other self. He grabbed him by his greasy shirt and pulled him close.

"Where is he? Where's Dean?" he yelled angrily into his face.

The man in his grip just threw his head back and laughed. "Man, Olly, did you put acid in this beer?"

His friends howled with drunken delusional laughter.

"Probably," one of them answered.

"No!" Sam yelled again. "Listen to me! What year is it?"

Jimmy tried to shrug off his grip, but he pulled him even closer.

"Where the hell is Dean?"

"Haha," his other self laughed, his words sliding into one another. "My brother's in hell. I bet he's crying like my father. He deserves it."

Sam loosened his grip on him and stared at Jimmy in shock. "What did you say?"

But Jimmy didn't answer. He was almost too wasted to stand up straight, let alone talk.

"Tell me what you said."

"Sam," Dean's voice called from nowhere, startling him. Sam spun around, completely letting go of his other self, who fell to the ground at Sam's feet when he lost support.

"Dean?" Sam looked around the room and up at the ceiling, but Dean wasn't there.

"Wake up! Wake _up_, Sam, Danny's out there by _himself_!"

Dean's large face flickered into view, filling up the ceiling, and Sam gasped.

"Dean!"

The drunkards and the room around him spun and slowly faded as Dean's face became clearer. "That's it, get up."

Sam sat up as fast as he could and hugged his brother. He felt hot tears stinging the corners of his eyes and quickly wiped them away before Dean could notice.

"Sammy, what-?"

"No, Dean, I'm fine. It wasn't me, it was the demon. Illusionist. Danny's the one in trouble."

Dean nodded and stood up, extending a hand for his brother. Sam took it and let his brother pull him to his feet.

"Get the stick."

Dean nodded and reached for it. Steadying himself, he swung at the glass. Shards of sharp broken window flew everywhere, and he jumped outside.

Sam moved to follow, but froze when he felt something poke him from inside his jacket pocket. Reaching inside it, he pulled out a crumpled photo.

_Love you, man,_ it read, and he flipped it over a second time to look at the picture before stuffing it back into his pocket and following Dean outside.

-

"I…." Danny looked over the demon's shoulder for any sign of escape. His eyes hardened when he thought of a way to get even and smirked. "No. It doesn't scare me. 'Cause you let me go."

The two glowing blue rings flashed again and before the demon saw what was coming, Danny Phantom stood in front of him, his green eyes flashing furiously in contrast with the darkness of the night.

His fist flashed an angry green, the same color as his eyes, and he growled.

The demon took several confident steps forward. "You think you scare me?"

Danny ground his teeth together. "I don't need to."

An ecto-beam shot from his hand and hit the demon, throwing him back. The demon only stumbled, but didn't fall.

"Pathetic!" he growled and lifted hands. With a flick of his wrist, Danny was thrown backwards, back into the wall. He quickly willed himself intangible and phased through it before the demon could come at him.

The demon looked around worriedly for only a few quick seconds before an invisible hand grabbed his ankle and pulled him down through the floorboards. Rising from the ground several feet away from the porch, Danny threw the demon with all his might, ignoring the crackle of energy and burn of its touch.

The demon sailed through the air and landed at the wheels of Dean's car. Growling furiously, it stood back up just as Danny flew at him with fisted hands, ready for a one-on-one battle. The demon saw it coming, however, and ducked just in time to clear the hit. It thrust its hand upwards, jamming Danny in the stomach, hard enough the boy couldn't keep up his flight pattern and he fell like a rock to the ground, holding his sore stomach in his hands.

The demon grabbed the back of his hazmat suit and hefted him up into the air like he weighed no more than a bag of feathers. He spun and let him go, sending Danny sailing several feet into the ground from the momentum of his body weight, rolling to lessen the impact. The demon began advancing on him and Danny quickly pushed himself to his feet and grabbed his arm before it could get any closer. Both he and the demon cried out in pain as electricity sparked between them, but Danny refused to let go. Instead, his eyes lit up a bright blue and ice formed at his fingertips, effectively preventing the demon from burning him any further. The ice didn't stop at his fingers, but traveled up the demon's arms and it screamed even louder. The demon ripped his frozen arms out of Danny's grip and swung at him with all its might. A frozen fist hit the boy square in the jaw and Danny fell backwards, totally unprepared for the blow. Lying flat on his back, Danny Phantom changed back into the helpless, vulnerable, and very bloodied Danny Fenton.

The demon's eyes were no longer glowing a deep red, but a merciless black as he straddled the boy and pulled a knife out of his jacket pocket. He held the knife threateningly over Danny's neck and Danny became very still, tensing up for what he knew were his final moments. His life flashed before his closed eyes as the demon brought the knife up over its head for the swing and then back down for the kill.

* * *

**A/N:** Yay! Long chapter filled with action! Really hard to write action, I might add. I hope it captured that Supernatural-esque thrill factor, 'cause that's what I was going for.

And OMG did you guys see the episode where Dean finally died?? I cried! Best episode _ever_! The ending was so horribly sad, I can't _wait_ for the next. Did you see Sam's expression when he was crying? His face alone made me want to bawl my eyes out. So cute and sad.

On a happier note, thanks for reviewing guys I really appreciate all the feedback!

**MutantLover09:** Ahhh!! Yet _another_ plothole! You're totally right. The demon's supposed to be in the same city they're in. I went back and fixed it by adding a sentence to one of the last few paragraphs. It doesn't really make all too much sense, but I did what I could to fix that. Thanks.


	11. Chapter 11

**Supernatural Retaliation**

Chapter Eleven

* * *

You would think that being half ghost, Danny would have been closer to death at least at one point in his life. But at that moment, as a sharp metal knife was flying towards his neck, he had never felt closer. He was terrified for his life, for Sam and Dean, and for the ones he left at home. So terrified, in fact, that he didn't hear the bullet being fired from Dean's gun. It hit the demon squarely in the back and the knife fell from its slacked grip as the demon fell on top of the boy. Danny didn't notice the cool metal of the knife as it sliced through the top layer of skin on his neck and shoulder on the way to the ground as it fell, just as he didn't notice the dead weight of the demon as it fell on top of him, crushing him like a small boulder. He did, however, notice the warm blood as it splattered onto his face and soaked his clothes. He couldn't tell whose it was, if it was his, the demon's, or if it was just raining from the sky. He didn't find out, as he was unwilling to open his eyes to see what was going on. Instead, he was lay completely still, silent tears beginning to slide down the corners of his eyes and drip off his face.

Sam and Dean were by his side in the blink of an eye, rolling the dead body off the shaking boy. Danny exhaled convulsively with relief, but still had yet to open his eyes.

"Danny," Dean whispered. "You all right?"

The only reply he got was a quiet whimper.

"He's hurt," Sam said to Dean, pointing. Their human eyes weren't able to detect the faint green flicker around the cut on the boy's neck, but they could clearly see that Danny was a mess. Even though the cut on his neck and shoulder weren't deep, his neck, arms, and shirt were soaked with blood. Even more blood dripped from the corner of his mouth trickling over a large black bruise that was quickly forming on the side of his jaw.

"Shh, you're fine now," Dean told him as soothingly as he could, rubbing his unhurt shoulder. Dean had never felt such responsibility. With a hurt boy, a friend he practically considered one of his best (not that he had many,) he felt just as guilty as he did whenever Sam got hurt. "Come on, let's get you up."

Dean grunted in exertion as he scooped the beaten boy into his arms. He walked around Sam to the Impala where he carefully slid Danny into the backseat of the car, ignoring the fact that the boy's blood would surely stain the upholstery. He turned to find Sam, but his brother was still standing where he had left him by the demon's body.

"You know, I don't think the colt bullets are reusable, so we should probably just go," Dean told him.

Sam looked up from the dead body at Dean. "That's not why I'm—look at the demon, Dean."

Dean walked back to his brother's side. "What about it?"

"Look what Danny _did_ to it." Sam flipped the body onto its back.

He had been too busy surviving to notice it before, but now Dean gasped at the large scorch marks on its fingers and chest and the angry red welt that ran from the side of its face to its mouth. On top of what at least had to be second degree burns, a thin layer of frost lingered on its fingers, sparkling in the moonlight. "Holy shit! What the hell did that kid _do_?"

"I don't know," Sam said, still amazed by the beating the demon had taken. "I mean, when the demon first got to him, I gave him only ten seconds. I thought for sure he wasn't going to…you know…."

"But he damn sure put up a fight," Dean whistled in awe. "Just look at that huge-ass bruise!"

"And that's not all." Sam studied the demon's face. "Look at the body. Doesn't it look familiar?"

"You know, I just noticed that," Dean said, touching the smooth face of the dead man. "It's weird how it looks exactly like the kid."

"I know! Their eyes are exactly the same color and everything. It was like the demon _was_ Danny, only a few years older."

"And with more muscle than the kid will ever have," Dean joked sadly before standing up and turning back to the car.

"We should take him to the hospital," his brother told him as he followed his brother to the Impala, sliding into the shotgun seat and looking behind the backrest at the sleeping boy.

"No hospitals. He's fine," Dean said, starting the engine. "Just a few bruises and cuts. He'll be all right once Bobby gets him patched up."

"Wait a second," Sam said, turning over in his seat and stretching his arm to the back. He grabbed one of the boy's hands and inspected the rising red marks on his fingers. "Look at his fingers, Dean."

Dean sighed and stomped on the brake before turning to see the hand Sam was holding. "Huh. That looks exactly like what happened the time Ruby touched him. I almost forgot about that."

"They look like minor electrical and heat burns."

"What would cause that?"

"Fire, maybe? Or touching an outlet or something. I don't know."

"But when would Danny have time to do either during a fight with a demon?"

"Maybe the demon could control fire."

"You mean _besides_ being able to read minds and make nightmare illusions? I really doubt that," Dean said, biting his lip. "The same thing happened with Ruby and she doesn't do fire. In fact, if I remember right, she got burned also. And we saw burn marks on that demon we just killed, so we know it's not just coincidental."

"I don't know. It's like when Danny touches a demon, it burns him and he freezes it." Sam ran a hand through his hair. "What would cause that? It's a really weird reaction and it never happens to _us_."

"Maybe somethin' happened to him when he was littler. His parents are spectral inventors, remember. And it's common knowledge that when ghosts and demons meet, bad things start to happen."

"Yeah, I guess that would make sense. But what could have happened?"

"I don't got a clue."

With that, Dean turned from his brother to focus on the road, speeding up to make sure they got to Bobby as fast as possible.

-

"I can't believe you let him get hurt like this!" Bobby whispered as loudly as he could without waking Danny. He was wrapping gauze around the boy's right index finger, the one with the worst burn. "I'm furious! He could have died, and that would have been yet _another_ innocent life on your hands. I told you—I _told_ you, you shouldn't have brought him."

"You think we don't know?" Dean growled right back. "You think we don't see what happened? We were freakin' _there,_ Bobby! The demon took him hostage; there was nothing we could do!"

He stomped out of the living room into the kitchen to find something in Bobby's fridge to eat.

"We heard him _screaming_ and we weren't there to stop it." Sam whispered to Bobby after Dean left them. "The demon's dead. Just get him taped up and we'll take him back to the motel."

Bobby finished taping the boy's finger and began pouring rubbing alcohol on a cotton swab to clean his neck. "_Home_ is where you better be takin' 'im."

"Home?" Sam echoed.

"Yeah, as in, to his house, back with his family. Dean's got three—no, _two_ days left, now. You better be workin' on a way outta that deal."

Sam turned away from the older hunter and bit his lip as he stared at Danny's sleeping form. "Yeah."

"Don't you go an' let Dean get side-tracked, now. He's gonna want to party it up, but he doesn't have time for that. Keep him in line."

"Of course."

"There," Bobby said, taping a fresh bandage over the cut on the boy's neck. "Take 'im back to the motel, get rested. Then get him back to his mother and come straight back here, you hear? I'll be working on somethin' for Dean."

"Bobby, can I ask you something?" Sam whispered. His hair fell into his face as he focused on Danny's burnt fingers.

"Anything."

"I—," he began, but stopped himself, not quite sure how to word what he wanted to say. "If there was a way to save Dean… that required the sacrifice of an innocent—"

"No. That's out of the question," Bobby cut him off before he could even finish. "Thought your father beat better morals into that head of yours."

Sam looked into his eyes pleadingly. "Don't you believe Dean's worth more than just one life?"

"I believe Dean's worth a thousand lives, but taking lives and adding them up just aren't the same thing," Bobby said forcefully. "You just can't take away a life and give it to somebody else."

"Yeah, I understand." Sam replied automatically. Bobby gave him an odd, calculating look.

"Don't you go tryin' nothin'-"

"No, of course not. I was just wondering," Sam sighed.

"Okay, well I got some frozen peas for the boy to take with you on the way home. He's gonna need it. There's a huge-ass bruise growin' on his stomach."

Sam followed Bobby to the kitchen, where Dean was eating leftover stew. "Really?"

"Yeah. Really struck me as odd, 'cause when it comes to civilians, demons don't usually fight hand-to-hand. Prefer to do it quick and simple, if you know what I mean. Kid must've really put up a fight."

-

Dean playfully poked Danny in the shoulder to see if the boy would wake up. Danny remained motionless, so Dean moved closer to shake him awake. As soon as his hand got within three inches of the boy, Danny's arm struck out like an automatic machine, and caught Dean hard in the jaw.

"Ow! Mother F—!" Dean cut himself off, aware that he was standing right next to a sixteen year old, however asleep. "_Jesus_!"

Danny groaned as his eyes fluttered open when he saw Dean standing over him invasively, holding the side of his head in one hand with a very angry expression on his face.

"What the hell?" Dean growled angrily, no longer in a playful mood.

"Oh," Danny said sheepishly, giving Dean a sympathetic look. "Sorry."

"You're _sorry_?" Dean replied, looking at his hand for any sign of blood. There wasn't any. "I don't want to look like you, you little shit!"

Danny grinned tiredly, all too aware of the large bruise that must be covering the right side of his jaw. "_You_ woke me up." Yawning, he said, "Go away."

Dean smiled. Here was payback. "Aw, wassamatter? Someone a little sore?"

"Actually, yes." Danny pushed himself onto his hands and groaned again when his muscles ached in protest. Falling back down onto the soft pillow under his head, he sighed in relief.

"Oh please, don't overexert yourself on my account," Dean said, backing away to reach for a glass of water on the armrest of the couch. Handing him the glass, he continued, "What happened? Were you mugged?"

"No. Actually, I was attacked." Danny grabbed the glass out of Dean's hands thirstily. "I coulda won, but I'm a little rusty 'cause I've been hangin' with this old joke of a hunter _way_ too much."

"Rusty 'cause of _me_?" Dean snorted, kneeling down to Danny's height on the couch. He would never admit it to himself, but he liked arguing with the kid. There was something about it…. Something told him that this was what it would feel like if he ever settled down and had kids. The thought was absurd and unthinkable, true (Dean having kids? Get real,) but all the same, it was a good feeling. "Seriously? We're the best hunters around. You've gotten better at fighting by just being _around_ us. You _wish_ some of our skill could rub off on you."

"Nah, I really don't. I'm already _way_ better than you," Danny joked. "I mean, really, where _were_ you when that big, bad demon came to get me? You should've never left me in the car."

Even though it had only been a harmless joke, it still stung. "I'll remember that next time," Dean told him, suddenly sobering up. Standing straight, he said, "Now drink up. We're gonna be leavin' soon. We have to get back to the motel."

"Wait!" Danny almost spit out his water, when Dean began walking away. "Do you have a cell phone?"

"I think Bobby's landline works. Why?"

"I haven't called my sister in forever. I need to make sure she's okay."

Dean reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a slim, pink Motorola. "Sure. You can use just my phone, then. Use up all the minutes, so they won't be wasted. I think I only have, like, fifteen left, though."

"That's okay, I'll be quick," Danny said, taking the phone out of Dean's hand. He watched the older hunter closely as he walked out of the room. Though they had gotten closer over the past couple of days, Danny was still very reluctant to tell even a single person his deepest secret. That was reserved for only his closest friends and the enemies that knew he would kill them ten times over if they were ever to reveal it to anyone.

As soon as he was sure Dean was gone from the room, he pushed himself to his feet, a very large feat in his condition, and began walking to the back door. When he was outside, he sat on the back porch and dialed his home number as he shook his leg in anxiety.

"Please pick up, _please_ pick up…," he whispered, wanting more than anything for Jazz to pick up the phone. He hadn't thought about it because in trying to run away from his home, he had wanted to forget everything he was. But now that he had time to give them a thought, he hated himself madly for leaving his only family with Vlad. Vlad! Of all people to leave his broken family in the care of, he had left them with his archenemy.

-

Dean walked into Bobby's tiny office, where he and Sam were talking softly.

"Oh, hey, Dean." Dean acknowledged him with a tight nod. "Is he awake?"

"Yeah. Said he'd felt better."

Bobby laughed heartily. "Good he's okay. I was just telling Sam that you better be takin' him home pretty soon."

"Yeah…. I guess you're right," Dean said dejectedly, reminded once again of how very little time he really had. "I'm gonna miss the little tyke. I guess it's the only thing we can do. I'm gonna have to get some work done."

"Well, speakin' of which, I have somethin' to give you." Reaching behind him, Bobby pulled a thin, flat device with a large flat screen from under his desk. "Electromagnetic reader."

"We already got one of those, Bobby," Sam told him, confused.

"Not this kind." Reaching behind him again, he pulled out an old phone and cord. "See, you plug the phone in like this-" he said, plugging one end of the cord into the phone and the other into the machine. "Supposed to pick up demonic frequencies. You can hear thoughts of the living dead, demons, whatever else is out there. Gotta be careful, though, it also picks up cellular frequencies. Doubles as an EMF. Got a flat screen and a camera. Just hold it up, and you can see the demon's true shape."

"Thanks, Bobby," Dean said, picking up the phone and putting it to his ear. There wasn't any noise on the other end.

"Least I can do," Bobby said, giving Dean a sad smile. "Oh, you won't get anything by doing that. You have to find a frequency that works. Different demons use different frequencies."

"Huh."

"'Scuse me, boys, I should start some breakfast. It's almost mornin'. You boys have been up all night!"

With that, Bobby left the room to start cooking.

"Damn straight it's the least he could do," Dean told Sam the moment Bobby had left the room.

It's so _useless_," Sam complained.

"Yeah, I was dying to say something. I mean, I know he means us the best, but what good will _this_ do? Am I supposed to pick up the phone in the middle of a fight to hear what the bitch is thinking?"

"I don't know," Sam said, messing with the tuner as Dean fiddled with the phone. "Maybe it might be good for something."

"Wait!" Dean cried suddenly. "Go back! I think I heard somethin'."

Sam turned the dial a little to the left and Dean held the phone to his ears. Sam leaned in closer to Dean so he could hear the speaker of the phone.

To the brothers' great surprise, they heard Danny on the other end. They didn't speak, however, and decided to do a little eavesdropping. "Why did I ever leave them? I'm so, so stupid!"

A loud click, and then, "Hello?" a beautiful voice sung over the phone.

"Hello, Jazz?"

"Danny!" The girl on the other end sounded happy to hear from him.

Dean nodded before telling his brother, "I think we're listening to him talk to his sister."

Sam's brows furrowed as Danny continued.

"Jazz, I'm so sorry. I never even told you I was leaving and then I left you and mom with—with—"

"Danny, it's okay," his sister told him cheerfully. "I was actually sort of surprised. He's pretty nice for a creepy, old, billionaire half-ghost."

"As nice as an archenemy can get, I still don't trust him." Sam and Dean traded confused glances as they began to wonder where, exactly, the conversation was going.

"Where are you?"

"I don't really know. I think maybe Colorado, or something. It doesn't matter, I'm coming home soon."

"That's good to hear, Danny!" his sister said. "How have things been going?"

"Uh, the usual. You know, hiding my secret from hunters that are dying to rip me apart." Dean held the phone away from his ear and shook it.

"What the hell…? Is there something wrong with this phone?" he asked Sam.

Sam shrugged. "_I_ don't feel like ripping him apart."

But they couldn't say any more unless they wanted to drown out the conversation.

"Oh, Danny!" Jazz cried as the brothers leaned back towards the receiver. "If it's too dangerous, why are you there? Come home!"

"I told you, I am." Danny sounded frustrated by his sister's protectiveness. "I'm fine. All we've been doing is driving, eating, and sleeping."

"That's all? I thought they were hunters. Shouldn't they be like Da—I mean, _mom_ and be trying to go after every ghost in sight?"

There was a pause and Sam and Dean knew that Danny was trying to come up with an elaborate, plausible lie. After all, he didn't want to worry his older sister. "We're on a ghost's trail right now, actually. But it's nothing, Jazz, seriously. It's probably as harmless as the Box Ghost."

Sam felt the burning desire to run back into the living room and grab Danny to ask what the hell the kid was talking about. As he looked at his brother for the umpteenth time, he realized that Dean must feel the same way.

"I didn't know that was possible."

There was a round of giggles before Danny continued. "So what's new at home? You said Vlad was actually being nice…?"

"Yeah, he hasn't made a single move on mom yet. Just coming in every morning to help out—really just making sure that she's okay, he makes the maids do the cleaning—and leaving. It would actually be kind of sweet, if he wasn't totally obsessed with her in the first place and wasn't out to get you. She's doing better, by the way. Mom, I mean."

"That's good to hear."

"How are you?" his sister asked, shifting her tone for a more caring sisterly voice. Sam and Dean only just now realized exactly what Danny had meant when he had told them that his sister could be a psychologist without schooling and training.

"I'm fine. Dean's actually really nice. I don't know about Sam, though."

Dean smirked at Sam, who rolled his eyes.

"That's good to hear—"

There was a loud click of a phone being picked up before someone else decided to join the sibling's conversation.

"Jazmine?" a new, deeper voice appeared, and there was a startled gasp. It sounded like the mayor. Dean frowned at Sam.

"Jazz, I thought you said after he came to help out, he left! It's, like, four in the morning!"

"I'm sorry!" she spoke quickly, clearly upset. "He decided to stay today!"

Clearly Danny wasn't the only one hiding things from his sibling. There was only one reason Mr. Mayor would be at a widowed mother's house at four in the morning. Dean's heart went out to the boy.

There was another click and it became clear that Jazz had either hung up or was forced to put down the phone.

"Well, well, well, Daniel," the older man said. "You finally decided to give your own home a ring."

"Vlad," Danny his earlier happy demeanor turning into one of intense anger. "Get out of my house."

"What are you going to do from way over—where are you, exactly?"

"Don't change the subject."

"And what subject was that, my boy?"

"Gee, I don't know. I think it was the one about you getting lost! I swear, I won't hesitate to—"

"To what, fly home and beat me up?" the elder man asked snidely. Dean and Sam shared yet another confused look. "You couldn't even if you tried, Daniel. There's nothing you can do. It was your decision to leave home at the most convenient time for _you_ without thinking of your poor family. Luckily, I happened to be in town." There was no answer, so Mr. Masters kept talking. "I must say, I'm pretty upset you took your mother's inventions. What did you do with them? Give them to those pathetic humans you're with?"

"For your information, they're better than you give them credit for. If you could take your stupid mind off of yourself for one-"

The EMF detector went dead and once again there was no sound from the phone.

"My phone probably ran out of minutes," Dean said. "Probably disconnected him and killed the frequency."

Sam nodded and they guiltily stood up, preparing for Danny to come looking for them. They both regretted listening to the boy's very personal conversation. They grabbed something off of Bobby's desk and began looking at it intensely.

They waited with their back to the door and then, "Oh, hey, Bobby said you were in here."

"Oh, hey, Danny!" Dean said, a little too loudly as he turned around. The boy in question's face was flushed, most likely because of the turmoil in his home. "Feelin' better?"

"Wha-? Oh, yeah,… a lot better." He took the phone out of his pocket and handed it to Dean. "I'm sorry. I ran it out of minutes."

"Aw, that's okay!" Dean took the phone out of his hand and pocketed it. "Bobby's makin' breakfast. We'll grab it and go back to the motel and get some rest. You can sleep in the car."

"We're gonna drop you home, soon. Your school'll be startin' in a couple of days. You should get ready."

Danny looked at the two brothers sadly. "So I'm guessing you guys _aren't_ coming back with me?"

"No, sorry, Danny. We can't. Well, _I_ can't… Sammy might want to come see you after a while, won't you, Sammy?"

"Yeah," Sam sighed sadly, looking down at his shoes, not even noticing Dean's implied cry of, "I'm giving up on my life!" over his inner turmoil. How was he going to be able to hand Danny over to a demon? It seemed that after the confusing phone call, he didn't really know anything about the boy. He had recently almost lost his life and now Sam was taking that life away for good. "Maybe."

-

Danny slept the full hour and a half back to the motel. When they finally reached their room, they carried the sleeping boy to his bed and began packing.

"I don't know what to do, Sam," Dean whispered, feeling the weight of the world on his shoulders. Realization hadn't hit him until he had something that made him happy. Sure, Sam made him happy, but he had always had Sam. Making friends with the boy had brought him joy, and something he would have looked forward to, had he actually had time to stay friends. There was just no time any more. With only two more days, his time was up.

"You get some rest," Sam told him as he zipped his black leather duffel bag. "Stay here, research. I'll take Danny back to his home."

"Thanks, Sam," Dean said gratefully with a sad smile.

"No problem," his brother replied weakly.

Dean didn't feel like going to lunch later on, so Sam took Danny out to a local diner.

It was completely empty, save for the two staff, the register, and the cook, and Sam didn't speak much.

"Thanks for the food, Sam," Danny said in between bites. "You know, when I get home, I'll have my mom pay you—"

"No, please, it's my treat," the older hunter said, forcing a smile.

Danny smiled gratefully. "Thanks. Be right back—I have to go to the bathroom."

Putting his fork down, he slid out of his chair and ran to the back to find the bathroom. The room was now empty except for Sam, who turned to look longingly out the window at the few passing people outside. They all lived such care-free lives….

"Sam." Sam's head spun towards the new voice in surprise.

"I thought I told you to stop doing that," he told his visitor.

Ruby ignored him and sat down on the chair opposite of him. "What the hell are you waiting for?"

"Waiting?" he asked, confused.

"Now is not the time for you to be in denial. Do you or don't you know how much time Dean has?" Sam didn't reply. "Take the boy to the crossroads, already! Stop wasting time trying to make it up to him with food," she continued, pushing Danny's plate away from her. "It's not even good."

"Ruby," he whispered. His voice was pleading. "I can't do this."

"You have to, Sam. It's Dean's only hope. This is the right thing to do, just trust yourself."

Tears were threatening to spill from his eyes. Sam was frightened by what he was about to do. "I can't do it by _myself_," he clarified and looked at her pleadingly. "Please come with me."

Out of all the possible answers he could have given her, Ruby wasn't expecting him to say that. "Sam," she raised a hand, trying to calm him down. "Sam, I don't think—"

"Please, Ruby. I'm _begging_ you."

She found herself staring into puppy dog eyes. She opened her mouth to decline, but was interrupted by someone else.

"Sam?" Danny asked, looking at Ruby, who was sitting in his chair.

Sam blinked away the pinpricks of tears that had formed in the corners of his eyes. "Oh, Danny!" he said to the boy, putting more enthusiasm into it than any other time he had spoken to Danny. "Danny, you remember Ruby." Danny nodded, still confused as to why she was sitting in his chair. "She was just—we were just _talking_ about—"

"About me coming with you guys on the way back to your house!" she finished for him. "You know Sammy, he could get tired and pass out on the road or something. I'm just coming to keep you both company. You need a girl with you anyway, after spending so much time with no one but Dean. Too much testosterone can addle anyone's head, you know. Why do you think Dean's as dumb as he is?"

Danny wanted to trust Ruby, but as much as he tried, his instincts were holding him back. Something inside him was telling him that Ruby was not someone he should be near. And he was pretty sure it had something to do with her being a demon and most likely knowing his secret. He couldn't help but feel defensive and hostile when she was around.

A shiver ran down his spine when he saw her smile as she watched him think. "Do you mind getting up so I can finish my food?"

She stood up, making sure to stay as far away from him as possible so they didn't have a repeat of their first meeting, and walked over to Sam, hovering over his chair. She watched as Danny finished the rest of his eggs and bacon while he pretended to ignore her.

"I didn't know you and Sam got along so well," he began conversationally as he laid down his fork on his empty plate and wiped his mouth on his paper napkin.

"Sammy and me?" she forced a giggle as she entwined her fingers in the hunter's long skinny ones. Sam instinctively tried to pull his hand out of hers, but she held on tight. "We're practically _dating_."

"Really?" Danny smirked. "I didn't know demons could date humans."

Sam didn't know what they were getting at, but he could tell the argument was escalating into something he knew he wouldn't like. Ruby dropped his hand and smiled knowingly at the boy.

"Oh, it'd be just like dating a _ghost_."

Danny threw his napkin down on the table and stood up, pushing his chair sliding back and glaring at Sam. He knew a threat when he heard one.

"Sam, I'm full."

* * *

**A/N:** Thanks for reveiwing!


	12. Chapter 12

**Supernatural Retaliation**

Chapter THE SECRET IS OUT

* * *

Dean was startled awake from his nap by the vibration of his cell phone in his pocket. He stayed motionless for several moments, letting the phone ring and drown out his fast, heavy breaths. He had been having a nightmare.

"Hello, Dean?" the gruff voice said as soon as Dean brought the phone to his ear.

The hunter rubbed his heavy eyes. "Bobby—?

"Where's Sam?" Bobby quickly cut through Dean's greeting.

Dean's eyebrows furrowed together as he began to realize the implications of Bobby calling right after they had just left him. "Uh, I think he's takin' the kiddo out to lunch."

"Wha—? Where?"

"Little diner on the south side of town," Dean answered cautiously. "Bobby, what's this about?"

"I don't really know," the older man answered simply. "I was pickin' up some food for dinner and I just saw Sam and Ruby pass me on the highway. They were drivin' your car, and they were headed west."

"My car—? _Ruby_?" Dean sputtered. "He's lettin' that bitch ride shotgun in _my_ car?"

"That's not the point I was tryin' to emphasize, boy. They're headed _west_."

"And...?" Dean drawled. "Wanna tell me the reason you're calling?"

"They're. _Headed_. _West,_" Bobby repeated harshly. "The kid lives _east _of here. I can't believe I figured this out before you! How could you be so stupid?"

"Here's an idea," the younger hunter began sarcastically, "how 'bout you tell me what I did wrong _before_ punishing me for it? As a kind of positive reinforcement."

"Boy, you better get your ass out of that damned motel," Bobby ordered, anger flaring at Dean's attitude, "if you want to feel any bit of normalcy after your deal with that demon comes to an end." Dean made a face into the phone, but, since Bobby couldn't see him, the older hunter took the silence for a cue to keep going. "Don't you see?" he asked. "You're not the one in danger anymore."

"In danger from what?"

"From the deal!" Bobby all but shrieked. Sometimes, Dean was too dense for words. "Sam asked me earlier if...if i thought it was okay to trade a soul for a soul. To trade an innocent soul for your safety. Dean," he continued, seriously, "why the hell else would Sam have ever allowed a kid to come with you two?"

And suddenly, it all made sense. Dean's furrowed eyebrows unlocked and rose as his eyes widened.

"Oh no," he whispered into the receiver. "No he didn't. He wouldn't—Sam would never—"

From where he was in his rusty pickup truck driving down the highway, Bobby sighed. He knew that Dean knew that after he had been brought back to life, neither of them had trusted Sam completely. He had finally gotten through to him.

"No!" Dean cried, practically dropping his phone. "Shit! _Shit_!"

From the highway, Bobby heard his line go dead after the loud snapping of a cell phone being slammed shut, if it was possible.

Dean bit his lip as he reopened his phone and pressed and held his number one on speed dial.

"Hello?" Sam's voice answered. Dean heard Metallica banging away in the background.

"Sam, tell me the truth," Dean said slowly in a low voice. "Where are you going?"

"Uh, to Danny's house," Sam answered in a confused tone Dean knew was fake, "like Bobby told me to. Look, I'm sorry you didn't get to say goodbye, but—"

"His house is the other way."

"Excuse me?" Sam asked like Dean was crazy. But Dean didn't miss the guilty gulp his brother had taken.

"His _house_," he said even slower than before, "is the other damned _way_."

"I don't understand—"

"Bobby saw you on the highway!" Dean yelled into the phone. "You and Ruby! He told me what you were up to, what you were going to do. You're going to try to trade someone for me!"

"Uh, look, um—...," Sam spluttered. "No, I'm not. We're going to his house."

"Don't you give me that!" Dean was using his loudest voice, now. "Why else would you have wanted Danny to come with us? Why else? Damn it, Sam, you're lucky. So damned lucky." Sam didn't answer, and Dean went on. "You're lucky that you're stupid. That crossroads Demon won't take that kid! What the hell were you thinking? That you could trade a Winchester for some kid? That no one would notice a scrawny little kid just disappear? That demon won't take him."

And then finally, Sam acknowledged Dean with the truth. "But I know she will," he said quietly. "Ruby told me she will."

"How the hell can you trust Ruby?" Dean exploded. Every swear word he knew went into his cell's receiver. "I hate you!" he cried finally. "How could you do this? Don't you dare go anywhere near those Crossroads. I'll kill you. I swear I'll kill you if you do."

"Dude, I can't hear you," Sam said in a fake upset voice. "I think I'm breaking up. I'll call you later, Dean."

But Dean could hear Sam just fine. "Don't you dare. Don't you f—" There was a snap of plastic hitting plastic and the line went dead.

Dean stood in shock with the phone still to his ear for a second before he shoved it into his pocket. "That _bitch_!"

He bolted from the motel room, his mind set on one thing: stopping his brother.

When he reached the parking lot, he searched for a bus stop. The moment he saw one across the street, he sprinted in its direction. But as soon as he stepped onto the tar pavement of the road, a blaring car horn made him jump backwards in surprise. Dean let it pass before trying to jaywalk a second time. This time, he made it as far as the middle of the road before he was hit by a car with screeching brakes. Thankfully, it had slowed down enough that Dean wasn't thrown backwards and run over. Instead, he fell forward onto the polished white hood of the Jaguar, smacking the side of his face and barely missing the little silver, pointy cat that motionlessly leapt from the front of the car.

Ignoring the blaringly loud honking of the car and the angry words of its owner, Dean turned his head and caught sight of the bus stop sign:

**__**

Greyhound

__

Hourly Bus

He looked down at his watch. It was three twenty-five. If the bus only came every hour, he would have to wait thirty-five minutes before catching the next one. _Not gonna cut it,_ he thought to himself. _I need a better…_.

His thoughts trailed off as he suddenly took notice of the car driver who was cussing him out. An old man, driving alone in a tidy Armani suit.

Dean peeled himself from the car before he walked around the hood to the tinted window. "I am so sorry, sir," he apologized sincerely as it slid open. The man gave him a look that practically told him that he damned well should be before Dean continued. "I've always had a thing for luxury cars."

The man's eye's widened in silent confusion before Dean reached through the window and opened the car door.

"Wha' the hell 're you—" the old man spluttered in a heavy southern accent and Dean grabbed a fistful of his pristine oxford shirt.

The man screamed as Dean pulled him out of the car and threw himself inside. The hunter didn't wait to hear the man's screams of protest and alarm, but sped off through the red light ahead.

-

Dean gripped the wheel tightly and kept his eyes glued to the road.. "Let's hear what old farts listen to. He briefly tore his gaze away from the road to press the power button. As soon as he did, country music blasted so loudly, that he was surprised the windows didn't shatter. But that didn't stop him from screaming. He quickly turned down the volume and adjusted the tune button to a station he liked much better, the 106.6 Hard Rock Jam. He leaned back in his seat, admiring the softness of the leather as it molded to fit his back. As soon as he had reached the town limits, he dug his foot into the accelerator.

"Let's see how fast this baby can _really_ go."

-

"Oh no!" Danny cried suddenly, startling Sam and Ruby as Sam snapped his cell phone shut.

"What?" he asked stiffly. "What's wrong?"

"I just remembered what I forgot to do," the boy said sadly. "I forgot to tell Dean goodbye."

"Oh," Sam said, letting out a relieved breath. The fact he was damning the kid sort of made him a little uptight. "I know, it's okay. I told him goodbye for you. We're… kind of in a fight right now."

"How'd you guys have time to get into a fight before you took me to lunch?" Danny wondered. Sitting in the shotgun seat, Ruby rolled her eyes. Like Danny's instincts told him not to trust her, her instincts made her feel very agitated around the boy. She had grown tired of his naivety almost immediately.

"Shut up, twerp," she growled tiredly, looking out the front window.

"Ruby," Sam chastised. To Danny, he said, "It's just something that Bobby said to him. Dean gets angry at the weirdest things. It's nothing, really."

Danny nodded silently, and continued staring at the trees and rocky terrain, observing that he didn't recognize a single thing that flew past his window.

Sam's phone rang a second time, but this time, Sam didn't answer it. He smiled embarrassedly at Ruby and Danny before turning it off.

"Just Dean," he explained and Danny frowned.

-

"Why isn't he answering his damned phone?" Dean growled over his music. He threw his cell phone angrily at the empty seat next to him. Checking the car's GPS system, he heaved a sigh at the amount of time he had until he reached his destination. "Only two more flippin' hours to go," he whispered.

* * *

**A/N:** Thanks so much for reviewing guys! I hope you liked this chapter even though it was short and written in like ten minutes. Hope it's not rushed, I didn't read back through it. For some reason, I really like it when the Winchester brothers fight.

Oh, and as for last chapter, I'm sorry for the Vlad/Maddie thing. I just thought, you know, it would make it more realistic. It can't always be happy-go-lucky in Danny's world, especially now that he's older.


	13. Chapter 13

**Supernatural Retaliation**

Chapter Thirteen

* * *

When the car come to a stop, Danny woke to find his forehead pressed against the car window. He blinked to clear away the bleariness and figured that he must have fallen asleep because of the boring country scenery. There was absolutely nothing outside except for dirt, a field of weeds and stray flowers, a stretch of nighttime sky that led to an old bar, and small water and propane tanks hidden behind a crumbling brick wall a few feet away.

"We there yet?" Danny mumbled as he rubbed his eyes.

"No," Sam answered as he slid out of the car. "We're just taking a pit stop, that's all."

"Need to go to the bathroom?" Ruby asked after Sam had left in the direction of the decrepit old building, oddly cheerful for her normal disposition.

Danny shook his head. He just wanted to be home. The Vlad situation desperately needed to be taken care of.

"Come on, just go," Ruby said more forcefully. "We have several more hours left and you might have to go."

"But I don't have to go," Danny told her pointedly. "I can hold it. I'm not five."

"No one said you were." Ruby crossed her arms in annoyance. She was getting frustrated. The kid needed to get out of the car. "Look, just get out and stretch your legs. If you don't you're gonna wish you had in the next few hours. Standing creates pressure in... veins—or...well, it does something to the blood flow. Whatever. Just get out."

Danny noticed her change of tone and decided to match her frustration, just to spite her. "No," he drawled and crossed his arms. "My blood flow is _fine_."

Ruby furrowed her brows and opened her mouth to reply with an angry retort, but for some reason, she forced herself not to growl at the boy. Instead, she closed her mouth with a snap of her jaws, took a deep, calming breath, and said, "Fine. I'm getting out."

She opened the door and jumped out, just as Sam appeared at Danny's window.

"Coming, dude?"

Danny didn't have as much of a problem with Sam as he did with Ruby, so he nodded politely. "Yeah, I really need to stretch my legs. Get my blood flowing."

Ruby glared at him from outside the car, but bit her tongue. Sam nodded and opened the front, shotgun door, where Ruby had been sitting. He reached inside the glove compartment and pulled out a small, metal box.

"What's that for?" Danny wondered aloud.

"Just some business I have to take care of," Sam explained as he checked to make sure everything inside was all right. "Coming with?"

"Yeah, sure."

Danny followed Sam to the center of the dirt road, wondering just what, exactly, the box was for. He became even more surprised, however, when Sam suddenly stopped, bent down, and began digging with his hands.

"What are you—?"

"Shh," Sam shushed him as Ruby suddenly appeared beside him to watch as he lowered the box into the hole he had just dug. Ruby and Danny watched as Sam buried the box and suddenly, it became very dark, as the moon was overcome by thick, grey clouds.

"Hold out your hands," Ruby instructed Danny after several moments of silence. Danny glared, defiant and unwilling to take any orders from her, but morally unable to show Sam just how much he disliked Ruby. The hunter was present, so he forced himself to hold out his hands for the demon.

"Why?" he asked, but the only response he got was the feeling of something being snapped shut around both of his wrists. The full moon that had been hiding beind the thick clouds suddenly jumped out and shone down, letting Danny see clearly again. He looked down at his wrists and gasped at what he saw. Fenton gadgets—heavy iron manacles were now keeping him captive. He hadn't even thought about why Ruby had asked him to hold out his hands before he had done it. _So stupid!_ he thought wildly.

"Ruby!" he exclaimed. "What was _that_ for?"

"For keepin' you from escaping," she explained. "I knew all that ghost shit you gave Dean would come in handy. Everything we could possibly need to take you down is right here," she continued, patting the car, "in the trunk."

Danny's eyes widened in horror. _Does Sam know_—_? Did Ruby tell him? What's going on?_

He turned to bolt, but Ruby grabbed the chain holding the two bracelets locked around his wrists. "Where do you think you're going?"

"Ruby?" Sam's voice made both demon and ghost jump in surprise. They had both forgotten about his presence.

"Sam, shut up," she ordered. "Is it in the ground yet?"

"Yeah, but I don't understand why you needed to chain him up," he said. "He's only, like, sixteen. I don't think we need—"

"Just trust me, okay?"

Danny was having a hard enough time dealing with whatever was going on, so he certainly didn't need more people to be thrown in the fray. But someone else appeared next to Sam on the crossroads. "I wouldn't trust Ruby any farther than I could throw her. And Ruby, you've packed on quite a few pounds since I last saw you. You used to look like Twiggy."

Danny gulped when he realized that the newcomer wasn't exactly human. The demon turned from Sam to look him over and Danny clenched his teeth when he saw her. It was like she had stolen Paulina's body. Everything about the demon was the same as his high school crush. Except, of course, her stunning purple eyes.

"Oh my God," he whispered. "You overshadowed _Paulina_?" He needed to escape as soon as he possibly could! He was sure he could out fly it, but the problem was the manacles—they had depleted his powers considerably.

The demon chuckled at him. "Is that what your kind calls it?" she asked in a distinctively American accent—no Hispanic lilt at all. _"'_Overshadow?'_"_

Danny bit his lip when the demon laughed again. "What do you call it?"

The demon grinned evilly. "I call it _possession_."

Danny growled and prepared to take a battle stance and fight hand to hand, but was taken by surprise when Sam stepped in front of him protectively.

"I'm here to exchange souls," he said cautiously.

"I know why you're here, Sammy" the demon giggled.

"Good," he said simply. "Then you know that I want to know _why_ before I let him go."

That was when Danny decided he did not like the direction the conversation was headed. "Sam," he whispered anxiously to the back of the hunter's suede jacket. "Why are we here? What's going on?"

Sam didn't answer him and neither, for that matter, did the Crossroads demon. "Why what?"

Sam's fists clenched tighter, digging his nails deeper into his palms. "You know what. Why the kid? What the hell does _Danny Fenton _have that Dean _Winchester_ doesn't?"

At this, the demon snorted. "If I told you, I'd have to kill you."

"You can't kill me," Sam said pointedly. "You're a Crossroads Demon."

The demon bristled at this and Ruby took a small step closer to Danny, gripping his bonds even tighter. "Well, then, I guess there's nothing stopping me," the demon said thoughtfully. She motioned to Danny. "Let me see him."

Sam took a step to the side and looked down at the fearful boy, but didn't move to send him over to the demon. "How do I know you won't try anything?"

"I'm a Crossroads Demon, remember?"

Sam sighed and shrugged. Ruby let go of the chains and he gave Danny a little push in the small of his back and Danny stumbled towards the demon.

He gulped at how _Paulina-_esque demon looked. Except for the eyes. He swallowed hard as he looked into them.

"Someone just tell me what's going on," he said nervously. "And let me go. I'll do whatever you want, just unlock the chains. I—"

"The real thing," the demon breathed, ignoring him completely. "He's the real thing. Check and mate."

"What?" Sam asked quickly.

The demon looked at him sadly. "Sorry, Sammy, I wish it didn't have to be this way," she said, "but I had my orders. You just lost a war."

She took two strides towards him and puckered her lips to go in for her signature deal-sealer, but froze when the sound of gravel and dirt being crunched under car wheels made its way to everyone's ears. Everyone turned in time to see a pristine white sports car with custom upholstery and paint job come to an angry, screeching halt behind Dean's black Impala.

"_Wait_!"

* * *

**A/N: **So many reviews last chapter, and it was the shortest one of all. Of course, most of them were complaints in response to said shortness... And yay! Now I've disappointed you guys again! But really, I am pretty sorry it's so short. It was just the best place to stop. That and I have a new and improved job. I work for a major company called IEATTIME.


	14. Chapter 14

**Supernatural Retaliation**

Chapter Fourteen

* * *

Everyone froze, but Danny, who was very used to the unexpected, almost immediately snapped out of the moment of shock and decided to use everyone's surprise as an advantage. He took several slow, lateral steps towards Sam. Looking at the demon on his left, he breathed a sigh of relief. She hadn't noticed him move—she was too busy staring at Dean. Looking up at Sam, the incredible betrayer, he frowned angrily. Sam hadn't noticed him either, and so Danny slowly reached towards his betrayer's belt loop, where his phone hung from a sliding case.

"Dean!" Sam yelled, horrified. "I thought I told you to stay away!"

Danny looked up at Sam, unnerved by the suddenness of his voice, but didn't let it slow him down. He gently slid the phone out of its protective case as carefully as he could with the ghost shackles, and backed away from the whole group, Sam, Ruby, and the unnamed demon who looked a lot like Paulina. Looking down at the red Motorola in his hands, he realized that, as much as he really didn't want to do it, there was only one thing he could do.

"You are not getting me out of that deal by trading someone else!" he heard Dean scream. As his yells rose in volume, Danny assumed he was coming closer. "Do you hear me?"

Danny flipped the cell phone open and carefully dialed the number before pressing the send button.

"Why can't you let me do this?" Sam bellowed in reply. "It's for your own _damned_ good! It's for _my_ good! Don't you get it? I am _not_ going to live alone!"

The boy heaved a heavy, nervous sigh as he waited for it to begin ringing.

"Well, well, well," the demon purred. "Look what the cat dragged in. Nice wheels, by the way."

"Shut up!" Dean growled before turning back to Sam.

No one noticed as Ruby slyly peek out of the corner of her eye before turning around to find Danny, who had turned his back on them all.

Danny bit his lip, trying desperately to drown out the yelling with his own thoughts.

"Hello?" Jazz finally answered tiredly.

Danny closed his eyes and breathed to calm himself. "Jazz?"

"Danny?" she said before a quiet yawn. "Don't you know what time it is?"

"Yeah, sorry," Danny said as calmly as he could. He didn't want to worry his sister any more than he already had. "But, um... I really need to speak with Vlad."

"Vlad?" She said, a little startled. "Vlad's not...here. He said he was going to work this morning and never came back. Why do you need him? Is something wrong?"

"_No_," Danny drawled, trying to steady his shaking voice. "Of course not. I just wanted to… ask him something. I'm gonna go. Loveyoubye."

He quickly ended the call before Jazz had the chance to say anything in reply. He could barely hear the yelling anymore, so he quickly dialed Vlad's cell. As he waited for the older man to pick up, he went over what he was going to say.

"I'm going to die!" sounded a little urgent, which was good, because it was an urgent matter, but it might be too much for the older half ghost. He decided against "They're going to kill me!" because of the same problem. But as soon as he decided on "Vlad, I really need help," the phone crumpled in his hands. He looked at it in surprised terror as he realized what it meant. He looked up from the twisted plastic to see the smiling face of the Paulina-demon. She laughed in his face, and suddenly, he felt her fling him in the air with that invisible demonic force. He was thrown and held against a crumbling brick wall, sandwiched between Sam and Dean. Ruby was leaning against the edge of the wall with crossed arms and a blank expression.

"You _bitch_," Dean growled. "You tricked us all. You _lied_ to our faces."

There was a pause before Ruby turned to face them. "Demons are known to do that from time to time," she said, like he should have known all along. Like she was _disappointed_ that he hadn't known.

"Thank you, Ruby," the Paulina-demon purred, "for bringing them all together."

Ruby frowned. "Wait a minute," she said," You said you could only take one of them."

"_Well_," the demon rolled the word about her mouth as she put on a thoughtful face. "I lied. I'm taking them all. Lilith will be so please with me, won't she? Sorry, I stole all your credit."

"I don't care about the _credit_," Ruby said evenly. "Take the ghost—I've always hated ghosts. But I want the Winchesters _alive_."

Danny stiffened at the mention of ghosts. Sam turned his head to find that Dean was avoiding him.

"Don't you see?" Ruby continued. "Lilith isn't going to stay forever. She's powerful, yes, but if everyone acts together, she can be taken down. No more monarchy enforced by the strongest and inflicted upon the weakest."

But her efforts of persuasion didn't affect the other demon in the way she had intended them to. The other demon took two quick steps forward and backhanded Ruby across the face. Ruby fell backwards onto the ground underneath the water tank and her eyes became narrow black slits as she growled furiously. She picked herself up off the ground and moved forward to take a swing at the demon laughing at her. Only, as soon as she took two steps forward, she ran into an invisible wall.

The crossroads demon laughed even harder as Ruby looked up at the underside of the water tank, where some hunter must have painted a pentacle along the circular rim.

As Ruby returned her incredulous gaze back to the crossroads demon, the crossroads demon said, "Hunters aren't the only ones who know how to use those. And, by the way, I happen to like Lilith."

Ruby pounded her fists fruitlessly against the wall and the crossroads demon turned her attention back to the three people still pressed against the wall.

"Not only are you all corrupted," Dean observed, "but you're corrupted _against_ each other."

"That's just the way we roll, I guess," she replied.

"Why?" Sam whispered. They all turned to him to find that he was shaking against the bonds that held him still.

"Why?" the demon echoed. "That's pretty simple. I mean, most of us are sent to hell for a _reason_, so—"

"No," Sam said, cutting her off, "I meant that you never answered my question. You have us both now, so why do you want the kid?" The demons smile grew wider the more he pressed on. "I mean, I was going to give you the kid in return for Dean's soul, but now that you have us _both_, why don't you just let him go?"

"That's a very good question," the demon said before turning to the boy in question. "Danny, would you like to answer that?"

Danny shook his head. "Don't—"

The demon laughed. "I thought so." She opened her balled hand in front of Sam's face to reveal his crumpled cell phone. "Here's your phone, Sammy. Danny tried to steal it, but I saved it for you." Sam didn't do anything. He wasn't about to be sidetracked by the demon's antics. "Who were you trying to call, Danny?"

"Nobody."

"I _said_," the demon growled, "who were you trying to call?" She waited several moments for Danny's answer before reaching behind her and pulling out from literally nowhere a shiny, new Fenton Thermos. "Was it the old man?"

Danny gasped and began to struggle in his bonds. "Let me go!"

Sam and Dean kept their mouths shut as they wondered what, exactly, was in the thermos and why it mattered.

"Were you begging for help?" the demon continued, aggravating the boy even more. "Oh, this is too good. I have to agree with Ruby, I really do hate ghosts."

Danny stopped struggling. "I don't see any ghosts here," he said, nervously innocent, but knowing full well what was coming. As the demon came closer, he began to blurt whatever came to mind in hopes that maybe, just maybe, it would stall her. "But I'm sure if there _was_ a ghost here, he'd be really friendly, and I know that you would have no reason to hate him. And he wouldn't go blurting secrets to people he doesn't—"

The demon shushed him and pressed a slim finger to his lips. Small stinging sparks flew between his mouth and the demon's finger, but otherwise, for a moment, nothing happened. Danny thought for a second that maybe the demon was going to let him get away, but just as he did, he felt something at his waist. The demon took a step back and Danny looked down. Around his waist, two familiar blue rings flickered to life before obeying his will and dying out.

"No," he whispered. "Please don't—"

"Do you want to know why everyone wants this kid so badly?" The demon addressed the two brothers. "Do you want to know what's in this metal deathtrap?" she said, shaking the thermos before dropping it on the ground at her feet. "I'm sure you do. After all, you can't really lose a war if you don't know how you lost."

The force holding Danny released its grip and he fell forward onto the rocky ground, barely able to catch himself with his chained hands. "You lost because," the demon said, "of what he is." Suddenly, the two rings were hugging his waist again, and this time, he couldn't control them. He squirmed as he tried to force them back down, already aware of the shock he would receive from the Fenton Ghost Shackles if he allowed himself to go completely ghost. "Because you two—" The demon continued to force the rings apart just as Danny noticed the thermos at her feet. The thermos, he realized, that contained Vlad.

"Were so _oblivious_," she went on, and Danny looked around wildly until he saw a fist sized rock next to his chest, "you couldn't even figure out that you were practically _living_ with—"

He reached out for it in desperation.

"—a ghost."

His fingers brushed against the smooth surface of the rock just as he lost all control. The rings shot all the way and he received the second shock of his life. The current from the chains came in pulses and Danny screamed in agony as they made their way through his body. He could barely sense or feel anything around him as the shocks ripped through him, but as he twitched involuntarily, his hands somehow fell on something hard. The rock.

For several moments, Sam and Dean could do nothing but stare in shock. All this time they had been living with who they had previously assumed was the murderer of Amity Park. Danny Phantom.

Dean was so surprised, he couldn't keep it in his head. After a string of swear words, the only thing he could say was, "It can't be. It can't be.…"

But after a while, it dawned on him that the young boy he had befriended was in pain. He pulled against his invisible bonds as hard as he could before he began yelling. "Let him go! Let him _go_!"

Sam fought a quick mental (more logical than moral) battle before he began to join. "Stop! _Stop_ _it_!" After all, even foregoing the ethics of hurting a teenager, they couldn't let the demons have him. He was a tremendous advantage to whatever side of the war held him captive.

The demon laughed again, more sadistically than ever, before she released the hold she had on the boy. The rings instantly appeared at his head and feet and soon, he was back to every day, ordinary Danny Fenton. His wrists had darkened from the burns and he was panting heavily, but he was still alive.

"Had enough?" the demon asked him.

Out of all the reactions she knew she could expect, she hadn't readied herself for a reaction quite like the one she got. The boy rolled over on his stomach and, with both hands, slammed the rock down on the middle of the thermos.

The thermos dented heavily under the rock and the cap flew off. The demon gasped and stepped back before a swirling pink mist poured out of the container.

* * *

**A/N:** Kinda short again, I know, but I was hoping that upon the introduction of Vlad, we'd all be happy customers. It was just so hard to force myself to write some more, so I'm sort of surprised, this turned out to be a halfway decent chapter. And OMG I got fifteen reviews last chapter! The suggstions were amazing, since I write this story one chapter at a time and have no clue what's going to happen. Thank you guys sososo much. This is like, my first story with one hundred reviews and I wish I could give you guys cookies or something. But I'm broke. And hungry, so I'd probably eat the cookies if I had any.


	15. Chapter 15

**Supernatural Retaliation**

Chapter Very PO'd Vlad

* * *

Then, suddenly, the thermos exploded, sending shards of knife-thin metal flying in every which direction. Danny covered his eyes and head as best he could with his hands _still_ tied together and the demon covered her face. Fortunately for Sam and Dean, the demon had lost control of her grip on them because of the distraction and they fell to the ground out of harm's way. Ruby, however, was unfortunately still bound in place.

After the explosion was over, Dean and Sam raised their heads and quickly checked each other over. Whether they were fighting or not, they would never want the other hurt by anyone other than themselves. Luckily, they both seemed to have survived the majority of the explosion unscathed. Danny and the demon, however, weren't so lucky. Danny, having practically been the _cause_ of the explosion, sported a large cut that had sliced the upper layer of skin on his arm and unprotected left ear that was sprinkled with many, slightly less damaging wounds. The crossroads demon had scratches all over, not that it particularly mattered. She _personally_ was fine, but the body she was wearing was stinging badly.

As soon as Dean and Sam were content that they were both fine, they picked themselves up and brushed stray shards of metal off of their thick leather jackets. They turned to the demon to make sure she wasn't about to attack and received the surprise of their week. A ghost of a_ very_ unhappy looking man stood in the center of where the explosion had taken place. His feet were hidden by a swirl of pink energy and his fists were clenched so hard, they looked as if they were glowing. He didn't look pleased at all.

In fact, he was so unhappy he seemed to even intimidate the crossroads demon. She took several hesitant steps backwards, away from the man.

"Vlad!" Danny cried, very unexpectedly, capturing everyone's attention once again. He scrambled off of the ground and jumped to his feet. "Oh, man. Never thought I'd say this, but I'm so happy to see you!"

Danny looked genuinely happy, but his face fell as soon as the man turned to face him. The man's face scared even Danny, who seemed to already know him.

_I've never seen him so angry,_ the boy thought before taking a couple of steps backwards next to Dean.

"Who the hell're you?" Dean asked suddenly, ruining the tension of the moment.

The man in question didn't answer. Instead, he took several very intentional steps towards the brothers before plunging an intangible hand through Dean's chest. His brother, who was standing slightly behind him was surprised to find a hand suddenly appear through Dean's back and pull the Colt right out of his own jacket pocket.

Vlad ripped the Colt right through Sam's jacket and, with one final, sudden—yet very graceful—movement, pulled the gun from Dean's chest and aimed it right at the demon's heart.

The crossroads demon didn't even stand a chance. She stood still as she watched the whole thing, unsure of the ghost-man's intentions the whole time until the bullet was actually fired. It hit her solidly in the chest, and, with a surprised expression, she fell to the ground, her demonic energy flickering like a dying light.

Dean stared eyes wide at the ghost in front of him as he felt around the ice cold spot in his chest with one hand. Sam was equally as stupefied as he stared, and behind him, Ruby was slack-jawed. Ghosts, know for their irrationality, rarely used rational solutions to solve their problems. Killing the demon was the most rational thing that the dead man could have done.

But perhaps the only one who was truly affected by the ghost's actions was Danny. Danny looked at the back of Vlad's cape as it swayed in the quiet midnight breeze with eyes the size of dinner plates. You would have never known it by the expression on his face, but millions upon millions of thoughts were racing through the boy's head. He had never witnessed Vlad be so outright…violent. Sure, they punched and kicked at each other several times, but Danny had never known that Vlad was capable of actually _killing_.

He parted his lips to breathe before taking several more hesitant, light footed steps back between Dean and Sam. He decided that he no longer wanted Vlad to come to his rescue. He was, for this first time in his life, truly scared of the half ghost.

"I'm the man," Vlad said to the brothers finally, as he turned back around to face them all, "who is going to kill every last _demon _who dares to cross my path."

He was still livid, but his expression suddenly softened when he noticed Danny standing between the two hunters. The boy was practically gaping at him with a mixed expression of shock and fear. This caught Vlad completely off guard. The shock was to be expected; no one could have predicted the action he had taken. But fear?

"Oh," he said a little nervously as he lowered the gun, "Daniel. I didn't…see you."

Danny didn't answer. Instead, he continued to stare. Dean, however, had snapped out of the moment.

"Hey, Danny, do you know this guy?" he asked hesitantly.

Danny didn't reply. Instead, he looked to Dean with a meaningful expression that was completely lost on the hunter.

Vlad was too fed up to put up with the boy's pathetic behavior. He had been stuck in a tiny thermos for hours on end to wake up to _this_? "Come off it, boy," he growled, before tossing the gun to the ground. "You knew what you were getting into once your father went and died. You ran away with _hunters. _Did you expect nothing to happen?"

"Don't talk about dad," Danny said, his voice never once rising.

"You're in no position to order me around," Vlad said, eyeing the boy's wrists where the chains still bound them together.

"Well, then," Danny said seriously, "Uncle _Plasmius_, can you _please_ help me out of these?" He lifted his arms and offered his wrists to the man expectantly.

Vlad growled at Danny's behavior and raised a palm full of pink energy at the boy. Danny gasped just in time to be thrown back by a weak, pink ecto-blast from the older half ghost.

"Danny!" Dean cried before he took the offensive and grabbed a gun from his pocket.

Vlad chuckled darkly. "Put that toy away," he ordered, "I was just _doing_ what Daniel asked."

Dean turned around to see the boy still lying on the ground, but he was completely unharmed. In fact, the shackles were the only thing that had taken the hit, and the ecto-blast had sliced them clean open. Danny immediately shed the heavy chains and rubbed his charred wrists gratefully.

"Thanks," he growled. As happy as he was that the chains were gone, he did not appreciate Vlad's authoritative demeanor.

-

They left together for the hunter's bar a little up the hill, where they knew they could talk in peace. Danny had assured Sam and Dean that though the ghost _was_ dangerous, they really needed to talk. Ruby was left outside to sit quietly in the pentacle. She was very angry she was left behind, but, in the end, her opinions didn't matter. Not to the hunters any more.

Sam followed everyone in tow as his conflicting morales had taken the majority of his attention. He couldn't think about anything other than what he should say to Danny. Dean, on the other hand, was perfectly comfortable asking questions.

"So how do you two know each other?" Dean asked as he sat down in one of the chairs. He turned to Danny. "And an even better question, how does your mother not…_know_?_" _The others followed suit and sat down at the table. Waiving a ten, Dean said to the bartender, "Beers all around, please."

Vlad coughed slightly before Danny said, "It's okay. They know about me, and they're not telling."

The older man still refused to talk, so Danny filled Dean in. "We're both half ghost."

Vlad eyed the boy angrily before he quickly became Masters. There was no one else in the bar other than the bartender, and the bartender was kneeling behind the counter, so he was protected from onlookers.

"Yes, well," Vlad said to the shocked brothers, "I'll expect no one to say a single word about this. I'm much more powerful than the _boy_."

Dean frowned at the implied threat, but couldn't refrain from saying, "Hey! You're the mayor!"

The conversation stopped there for a moment while the bartender set the beers down on the table. As soon as he walked away, Vlad swiped Danny's beer away from him just as the boy made to reach for it.

"Yes," he said, "And even though I can only thank Daniel for that, I still enforce the legal drinking age."

"Man, can I get an autograph?" Dean asked before taking a swig of his beer. "Sam said you're 1997's billionai—"

"We're here to talk about the gravity of the situation," Vlad reminded him sourly. His own beer remained on the table, untouched.

"I'll be right back," Sam interrupted. He scooted out of the booth and made his way to the bathroom.

"Okay," Dean said, purposefully ignoring his brother. "Well, I think we're pretty safe, now. You saved my life when you killed that demon bitch."

"I did?" Vlad asked, full of distaste.

"And Danny's," Dean added on afterthought. _"And_ my brother's._"_

"Definitely not intentionally."

"Well—" Dean started, but Danny cut him off by suddenly hugging his stomach.

"I feel like I'm gonna throw up," he said and moved to slide out of the booth. He shakily walked up to the counter and called, "Sir?"

The bartender stood still behind the counter, with his back facing the boy, and appeared not to hear him.

"Sir?" Danny asked again, ignoring the annoying flickering fluorescent lights that made the shadows from the wrinkles on the man's shirt dance. "Where's the bathroom?"

The bartender still didn't move and Danny frowned. The bar was an open bar, so Danny walked around the counter and tapped the man on the back of his shoulder. "Sir, please—"

The bartender's weight shifted under Danny's touch and the man fell to the ground on his back. Danny screamed in horror and disgust as he looked upon the man's front. There were long, red, claw-like gashes running through his shirt and chest, and by the waning color of his face, the man was quite obviously dead.

Dean and Vlad were by his side in an instant, Dean with a knife, and Vlad with glowing hands.

"Shit," Dean whispered as he took a quick step backwards. He looked around the room, and saw nothing suspicious but the flickering lights.

"Sam!" he called loudly, his voice echoing in the emptiness of the bar. When his brother didn't answer, Dean slid between Danny and Vlad and ran out the door of the bar. Danny and Vlad really had no other choice but to follow him, so, with one last confused glance at each other, they were off.

Dean ran as fast as he could to the water tower. "Ruby!" he yelled, but Ruby was nowhere to be found. He looked up at the pentacle to find that it had been smudged and graffitied with scratches. "Damn it!"

He turned to his car to find that the wheels on both cars were slashed. His heart began to speed up as he looked around, surveying the open fields for any kind of movement. When Danny and Vlad finally caught up to him, Danny's stomach was more upset than ever and his temperature was slowly rising.

"What is it?" Dean asked when he saw Danny's pained expression.

"Demons," the boy between clenched teeth. "And lots of them."

* * *

**A/N:** Yay angry Vlad! Thanks for reviewing, I wouldn't have a clue about where to go if it wasn't for your suggestions and critiques. Even if I don't take your advice directly, I think about them and eventually arrive to (what I think is) a good conclusion because of them. So again, thank you guys :). I hope this chapter wasn't too anti-climactic for you—and even if it was, I hope it was made up for with angry Vlad, who I totally love, and the fact that more action is on the way!


	16. Chapter 16

**Supernatural Retaliation**

Chapter Sixteen

* * *

Dean took a deep breath. His thoughts swirled and raced against each other, and he hesitated. He closed his eyes, thinking desperately, and found it was almost all too much for him. In a quick, almost surreal moment, half his life flashed before his eyes. His father sold his soul for his son. Sam died in his arms. He bargained for his brother's life with the Crossroads Demon. His year flew by so fast, he could still remember what he was thinking the moment the yellow-eyed demon told him that, "dead things should stay dead." And now, his time was finally up. So many hunting sprees in between, so many care-free joy rides, so many bottles of beer downed without a passing thought, and now the year had finally ended. Fortunately, however, his due-date had been extended, although there was no one to thank but Sam, the bastard.

Dean could see himself standing on the gravel road, in front of two immobile cars, surrounded by nothing but fields of grass and the darkness of the night. Sam was nowhere to be found, Ruby had disappeared, and in their stead, there stood two people he barely knew; a boy and a man almost as old as his own father were both looking at his back, anxiously awaiting to be told what to do. Dean wasn't all too sure that he _knew_ what to do. But as soon as the moment of doubt had come, it passed, and Dean opened his eyes determinedly. He had been given a second chance, and this was the one way to prove he deserved it.

"You," he said, whirling around to point at Danny. "You know where the salt is. Grab two bags and meet me in the bar." Danny nodded fervently and bolted towards the trunk of the black Impala. "And you," Dean said again, this time pointing at the mayor. "Keep your ass by his side and get him to safety if anything happens. I'm going to get the weapons and find my idiot brother."

The older half ghost rolled his eyes at the hunter's order, but complied without saying anything. He watched as Dean ran back towards the bar before he turned to Danny, who was struggling under the weight of two very heavy looking bags of salt. Vlad eyed the boy angrily before speaking.

"You really have no clue what you've gotten yourself into, do you?" he growled. "You stupid boy."

"I…didn't get myself…into _anything_," Danny grunted in exertion, stumbling towards Vlad, both bags severely weighing him down. Thankfully, the boy's upset stomach had seemed to settle once he had the salt in his hands. "_They_ killed dad…remember?"

"Oh, yes," Vlad said simply, inspecting his nails. "How could I forget?"

"Could you…maybe, I dunno, _help _or something?" Danny panted, momentarily setting the bags down to rest.

"Don't be silly," Vlad said cheerfully. "I just bought this jacket."

"You mean you bought it, like, two days ago," Danny told him, _"before_ they captured you in a Fenton Thermos. What happened, anyway? Couldn't see 'em coming?_"_

Vlad growled. "They surprised me," he replied angrily. "I never even knew of their existence, and I still don't know how _we_ compare against them."

"Well, you compared pretty well against the one trying to kill us," Danny said sourly, without thinking. He hefted the bags into his arms once more and began walking.

"Yes, I did, didn't I?" Vlad said proudly, following the boy towards the bar. "Well, in any case, your hunter friend seems like he knows what he's doing. Once we've finished off those _demons_ or whatever, we can finish him off and get on with our lives."

"What?" Danny gasped in shock.

"You're not telling me you _like_ the hunter, are you?" Vlad asked, equally surprised. "That man _hunts _ghosts like us, you know."

"Well, Valerie…does, too," Danny leveled, "but that doesn't mean…you're going to get rid of _her_."

"Who said I wasn't?" Vlad asked him seriously. "She may not know our secret yet, but she was only a pawn in the first place. One day, there won't be a need for her any more."

Danny froze, and one of the bags fell out of his hands. "Are you kidding me?"

"…Yes," Vlad said with a quiet chuckle.

Danny slowly relaxed and carefully bent down to pick up the salt with a sigh. "Your jokes haven't improved much."

Vlad didn't reply. Instead, he held his hands together behind his back and looked down at his alligator shoes, following Danny's lead. Danny stared at the older half ghost, pondering what he should say to the man. It was a very awkward moment for the boy, and the only thing he could think of to say was something he didn't really want to bring up.

"What's…," he began half-heartedly. "What's going on with…. I mean _at_…"

Vlad sighed. "Home?" he filled in. "If you're getting at what I think you're getting at," he told the boy quickly, "that's between your mother and me."

Danny swallowed. He half-expected Vlad to say, "Just joshing you!" again, but when he didn't, the boy fell silent.

"You can't control everything in your life, Daniel," Vlad told him wisely.

Danny wasn't going to reply, but the words just slipped out of his mouth. "Neither can you."

"Oh, but I can," Vlad said confidently. "And I basically have."

-

"Sam!" Dean yelled angrily, once he got inside. He set down the bag filled with all the weapons and looked around the empty room. "_Sam_!"

He charged into the bar, throwing the doors open. "God damn it. Where the hell are you?"

_"_I'm right here, Dean, " Sam's voice drifted from behind the bartender's counter. Dean turned around to see his brother appear at the kitchen entrance with a small smile on his face, his white teeth exposed by his calm, almost serene smile.

"Wipe that stupid grin off your face," Dean ordered. "Where the hell were you?"

Sam immediately stopped smiling before taking several steps closer to his brother. "I had to save…Ruby," he said carefully. "We left her out side."

"Save…Ruby?" Dean echoed. "Ruby's both a bitch _and_ a demon. How many times is she going to try to kill you before you get the point? Where is she, anyway?"

"She…," Sam started hesitantly. "There were a few, ah, complications…."

Dean furrowed his eyebrows and frowned as he stared at his brother. He was going to ask just what the hell his brother meant, when Sam suddenly gagged. His hands flew to his head and he almost doubled over.

"Oh," he moaned loudly, and he grabbed his brother to steady himself. "My head."

Dean walked Sam to a booth and helped his brother into a sitting position as he asked, "What's wrong now?" Sam didn't answer at first and Dean pulled himself out of his brother's tight grip. "And don't hug me," the older hunter added. "We're barely on speaking terms, here. I can't even stand to look at your face."

"What did I do?" Sam asked naively, skillfully avoiding Dean's first question.

"You're shitting me," Dean growled. "Don't play innocent with me. You know _damn_ well what you did."

Sam again was devoid of any response, so Dean decided to enlighten him.

"Demons found us, Sam," he said. "Danny and that old man're getting the salt."

"You're kidding," Sam said with almost no enthusiasm at all. "How did they ever find us?"

"I don't know, why don't you ask your BFF?" Dean said smartly, referring to Ruby. "Just be prepared."

As if on cue, the crunching of shoes on gravel sounded from outside.

"That's them," Dean told his brother as he rose from the booth. He crossed the room, opened the door, and peered out at them. "What the hell took you? There are freakin' _demons_ out there."

"You're _joshing_ us," Vlad said sarcastically. He looked between Danny and Dean before grinning smugly. "You wouldn't mind taking these, would you?"

Danny, who was futilely attempting to climb the stairs with the heavy bags was surprised to suddenly have his burden lifted. With nothing but a small wave of Vlad's hand, the bags took on a pink glow and they flew from Danny's hands to Dean. Dean, not expecting to be hit with one hundred pounds of salt, fell under the weight.

Danny gasped as Vlad ascended the stairs and stepped over the fallen hunter, both surprised and greatly annoyed of the lack of physical exertion his arch-enemy had displayed levitating the bags that he, himself could barely lift. Bounding up the stairs after the man, he exclaimed, "And you couldn't have done that _before_ I dragged them all the way up here?"

He stopped in front of Dean and offered the hunter his hand. Dean eyed it suspiciously before laughing. "I won't slip through your fingers, will I?"

While it was certainly unnerving that the boy was half of something supernatural, he knew Danny hadn't changed any. But he figured it couldn't hurt to take certain precautions. Danny chuckled as Dean grabbed his hand and pulled himself up.

"No," he said, snorting, "I learned to control that a long time ago."

Dean's smile disappeared when, after he brushed himself off, he saw the old man glaring at him with contempt. He ignored him, however, and bent down to pick up the salt.

"What are they for, anyway?" Danny asked, eyeing the bags.

"Sam! Get over here!" Dean called before turning to Danny. "Demons can't enter a door when there's an unbroken line of salt," he explained. "So we pour sand down every little crack a demon could fit through."

"You mean they can't just phase through the wall?" Danny asked, surprised to find that there were more than a couple of differences between ghosts and demons.

"No," Dean said, frowning. "I don't think so, anyway."

Sam appeared by his side and held his hands out for a bag of salt. Dean hefted one into his arms and the younger hunter walked away saying, "I'll get the back windows."

Dean picked up the other bag and ripped it along the seam. Danny watched with fascination as he poured a heavy line of salt on all the windows and doors. Once the bag was empty and all the cracks had been covered, the hunter brushed off his hands.

"What now?" Danny asked, sitting on the stool next to where Vlad was leaning with his arms crossed against the counter.

"I learned a few tricks from my father," Dean told him with a small smile. He walked over to the weapons bag he had earlier left at the door and pulled out a thick paintbrush and a small Tupperware bowl filled with a viscous, red liquid. He then proceeded to walk to the counter before he pulled himself onto it and stood, looking up at the ceiling, ignoring the dead man behind the counter as much as he could.

"What's in that?" Danny wondered aloud, and Dean looked down at him.

"Trust me," he said, opening it up and dipping the paintbrush into it, "you really don't want to know."

Roughly ten minutes later, Sam came back into the room and Dean hopped off the counter. They both admired the piece of work on the ceiling before Dean put the brush and the Tupperware back in the bag.

"What is it supposed to be?" Vlad asked in a bored tone as he looked up at the circular shape on the ceiling.

"That," Sam said, carefully stepping around it, "is a pentacle."

When he didn't expand on the subject, Dean sighed. "Traps demons 'n makes it easy to exorcise them," he explained. "Sam, you got your bible?"

Sam dug through the weapons bag and nodded, gingerly taking the musty old bible out of the bag with two fingers. He tucked it into the inside pocket of his jacket.

"_So_…," Danny drawled, looking around. "What _now_?"

"Well," Dean said thoughtfully, "I don't know. We could go through the weapons. Sam, where's Ruby?"

Sam looked up. "Ruby's…disappeared."

"Great," Dean grunted. "And I'm guessing she has that knife with her, too." When he got no response and Danny looked at him quizzically, he explained, "She's got this sick-ass knife that kills demons instantly. Damn bitch." He dragged the bag to the middle of the floor, pushing the tables and chairs out of his way to the side of the room.

"We've got all the stuff you gave us," Dean told Danny. "I've got the colt. Sam's got the bible and some holy water. The knives and all the other shit we got don't have anything on demons, and I really don't know if your stuff will work on them. You need anything?"

Vlad scoffed at him just as Danny said, "Um…. No, not really."

"Fine, but don't forget how badly you were crushed," Dean said, referring to the time Danny had nearly been murdered by Lilith's helper. "And he didn't even come close to being as strong as the demon your friend here just wasted."

"You were beaten by one of _them_?" Vlad laughed, and Danny blushed. "How bad was it?" he asked Dean.

Dean bit his lip at Danny's embarrassment, regretting having said anything at all. "The tyke fared pretty well, _I_ think."

Vlad didn't buy it for a second and continued to laugh.

"Yeah, well, I'll just be sitting over here," Danny said bitterly, taking a seat at a table as far away from Vlad and Dean as he possibly could, "waiting for the demons to come kill us."

It was then, sitting alone at the table in the corner, that Danny noticed Sam, who was sitting in the booth opposite him. Sam was staring at him unwaveringly and the boy suddenly felt self-conscious. Sam was looking at him as if he were prey to be hunted, which reminded him slightly of Skulker. For some odd reason, Sam's stare made his blood warm and his stomach churn. It was unnerving, and Danny turned away, choosing instead to look at Vlad, who was sitting at an empty booth and staring out the window, and Dean, who was rummaging through the weapons bag.

"Here it is!" Dean exclaimed as soon as the room fell eerily silent. He pulled out two small vials from the side pocket of the bag. He threw one at Vlad, who caught it with lighting fast reflexes, and the other to Danny, who fumbled as he just barely closed his hand around it. "Extra holy water. It's like cat spray for demons."

Vlad inspected the silver vial closely before tossing it across the room Danny. It hit the boy's head with a light thud and fell with a clatter to the floor.

"Ow," Danny complained, rubbing his sore temple.

"You need all the help you can get," Vlad said with a shrug. Dean eyed the two of them before shifting his line of vision to the field out the window.

"Shit," he said, and everyone looked up. "They're here."

Danny and Vlad both followed the hunter's gaze and gasped. There was definitely more than just a hint of motion outside. Danny clenched his teeth together and mentally prepared himself for what promised to be a big fight.

* * *

**A/N: **Thank you so much for reviewing, guys, you're all so amazing! Sorry about the Paulina thing. I was going to have her do something like try to kiss Danny instead, but then I just didn't, and the story took a whole different direction. So yeah, I don't know if she's dead. And then I don't know if Vlad even has a ghost sense, so I just left that out. But anyways, thanks again, for reading, and get ready for major action!


	17. Chapter 17

**Supernatural Retaliation**

Chapter Violence Isn't the Answer, Kids

* * *

"I'll be right back," Dean told Danny and Vlad in an anxious rush. "Have to find Sam."

Sam had left the room three minutes before, and with the demons slowly approaching, Dean was itching for everyone to stay together. He practically jogged around the counter and down the hallway to reach kitchen.

"Sam," he called. "Sa-_am_." He peered through the swinging kitchen door. "Sa—holy _shit_!"

He froze when he saw Ruby sitting on the floor and leaning against the wall, bound and gagged. She opened her eyes to see him gaping at her and she gave him the most meaningful look she could. Which was an angry glare.

"What the hell?" Dean gasped, and Ruby motioned with her eyes to the torn dishrag stuffed in her mouth. Dean tore it off of her and she breathed heavily.

"It's Sam," she explained in a shaky, breathless whisper. "He's going to kill you, too."

"Sam?" Dean echoed loudly. "Wait—did you say, _too_? You're not d—"

She held out her wrists, which were tied together with a thick rope, and opened her right palm to the hunter. He peered down at her hand and wrinkled his nose when he saw that her skin was sliced clean through and it was oozing a viscous, black substance. "Damn that's nasty."

"With my knife," she explained tiredly.

Dean looked her in the eyes. "Yours? The one that _kills_ demons?" he asked, and without waiting for an answer, he grunted, "Serves you right."

"I…could leave," Ruby said slowly, her voice cracking.

"_But_…." Dean waved a hand impatiently.

"_But_…I had to warn…you…about Lilith," she went on, panting consistently more heavily. "She's…already inside…she'll kill you."

"Let me get this straight," Dean said, taking a very surprised step backwards, "You stayed inside the body that's killing you to _warn_ me about Lilith?"

"And…to give you…this," Ruby rasped harder, pulling the silver knife from her pocket and holding it out to Dean. Dean took it and looked at her thoughtfully. "I told you…I'm not…like them," she said, her voice growing weaker by the second.

Dean turned the knife over in his hands, studying the intricate engravings of its handle and refusing to break the silence he officially deemed as more than a little awkward.

"Well, what the hell are you waiting for?" he finally said, avoiding her stare when she didn't say anything. "Get out—don't kill yourself."

He closed his eyes and turned away, flinching, as Ruby left the body he had gotten to know her in. The pretty, blond corpse fell to the ground, motionless, and with one last shaky breath, Dean pocketed the knife and turned back to see it. He exhaled heavily as he took in the sight of the body of the demon he had previously thought was his enemy before he closed his eyes and thought about what would be the most effective action to take next.

-

Soundlessly and stealthily, Sam crept through the back entrance. He spotted Dean standing quietly over Ruby's body, and guessed that the bitch had told the hunter everything. There was everything to lose, now, but the younger hunter had everything to gain. He carefully picked up an abandoned pan from the sink and turned towards Dean before silently walking towards his back. He crept closer and closer and, raising the pan, he aimed for Dean's head. But just he swung, the hunter turned. The pan hit the older brother's shoulder and he fell to the ground, clutching at it and groaning pitifully.

Sam sighed, rolling his eyes in exasperation, and held his arm out towards Dean. Dean, who had been preoccupied with the pain in his shoulder, did not expect the invisible force that tightened around his neck and dragged him off feet and against the wall.

"You thought that just because you killed the demon you sold your soul to you would be off the hook?" Sam asked casually, with a small grin.

"Lilith!" Dean shouted with what little breath he had.

"I'm angry, Dean," Sam said. "You didn't invite my friends inside."

"I didn't invite _you_ inside either, bitch," Dean told her, gasping for breath.

"That hurts my feelings," Sam said with a smirk and Dean closed his eyes, struggling even harder for breath when the grip on his neck tightened. "But you did," Sam went on almost bitterly. "You sent me an invitation exactly one year ago." Lilith released him and Dean fell to the ground, hungrily sucking in mouthfuls of the sweet tasting air.

He was still stuffing his lungs with oxygen when Sam slid the cloth into his mouth. He gagged and hog-tied the older hunter before she dragged him into the large storage closet that was lit by nothing but the moon shining through the closed window. If he could have, Dean would have gaped at the multitude of demons glaring at him from outside and the still many more behind them that didn't have bodies.

"Don't worry, they won't kill you," Sam leered at him. "I told them to leave you for the dogs. But I'm sure you'll enjoy listening to the screams of those two _disgusting_ ghosts as we finish what they've already half done."

Dean gave the body of his brother a pleading look and began to beg, but his begging only came out as a stifled mumble through the thick cloth smothering his tongue.

"Your time is up Dean," Sam told him as he cracked the window. The possessed hunter studied Dean's face with pleasure as he then slowly dragged his thumb across the only thing stopping the demons from entering the house: the line of salt.

"It's been up since before your father gave you your first machete, and everyone who tries to protect you will die."

Even as he spoke, the building shook as all the demons, corporeal and non, all tried to fit themselves into the small section of broken seal. With one last glance at the terrified hunter, Sam shut and locked the door.

-

Sam had almost made it to the kitchen exit when Danny appeared at the door.

"Where's Dean?" the boy asked curiously.

"I don't know," Sam told him. "Why?"

"I wanted to ask him what that shaking was. Kinda scared Vlad 'n me," Danny said, trying to lighten the mood with his signature mostly one-sided rambling conversation. "Well, mainly just me, but you know what I mean."

"Did you check back there?" Sam asked, pointing behind Danny and Danny shifted his weight impatiently.

"Look," the half-ghost said, "I saw him go in there, and I want—"

"I've checked back here," Sam cut him off. "He's not in the kitchen."

Danny eyed the hunter suspiciously before his gaze wandered from his eyes to behind Sam. He frowned when he saw a glint from something yellow—something that looked almost like Ruby's golden locks of hair. "What's that?"

He peered around the hunter and gasped when Sam grabbed his wrist. "It's nothing!" the hunter yelled, but Danny wrenched his grip from him when sparks of electricity flew between their touch and his hand began to burn. Danny froze, eyes widening first at his wrist and then at Sam's angry expression. The boy then did the only logical thing he could think of to do. He bolted to find Vlad.

-

Dean closed his eyes against the rush of Demon essence that was quickly filling the small storage room before slowly filing underneath the door crack. The room was almost full when the window broke, allowing human bodies to climb through.

"Well look who it is," a voice exclaimed, full of twisted mirth, just as Dean had finally cut through the thick rope that had been holding his wrists together. "We've all just been _dying _for the day when Dean Winchester would be at our mercy, and look! He's right here, gift wrapped and everything."

Dean choked and dropped his Swiss Army Knife as his back was mercilessly slammed into a shelf rack by yet another demonic force. Instead of holding him in place, however, it released him and he fell to the ground with a pained grunt. One of the bodies approached him as he scrambled from the floor to his feet and delivered a blow to his shins that sent him back to the floor on his knees. The demon twisted his left arm behind his back in a combative move and all the demons watched as Dean cried out in pain when the demon pulled the hunter's wrist closer to his neck.

"I can't kill you yet," the demon said quietly, into his ear, "but I can finally avenge my father."

"Damn it! You're Meg's brother!" Dean gasped through his clenched teeth. "Can't we just leave it at a father for a father?"

"Sorry, but no," the demon answered, moving back to more effectively shatter the man's shoulder bone. "It'll be more of a father for your brother, your uncle, your friends—basically everyone you've ever come in contact with." A sickening cracking noise filled the room and Dean screamed in agony. "I could do this from far away," Meg's brother explained, "but I want to feel every last bone in your body break."

Dean yelled even louder before he suddenly ducked forward and twisted around. The demon didn't have time to react before Ruby's knife was plunged into his heart.

"Don't be greedy," Dean told him as the possessed body slid, gasping for air, to the floor. "Father for father is how it's gonna have to stay." The hunter raised the knife in his right hand aggressively before turned on his heels to face the crowd of demons behind him.

-

Danny reached the main bar room, greatly surprised to find Vlad already consumed in a heated fight between two very angry looking demons. He watched as Vlad ignored the flow of electricity when he grabbed the closest body's wrist and flung it on it's back onto a nearby table. The table snapped in two and the demon remained motionless, but unfortunately for Vlad, the second used its power to grab the older half-ghost and slam him into the back wall. Vlad cried out but otherwise seemed unhurt as he phased backwards through the wall. The growling of the second demon made Danny snap out of his stupor and decide to make himself useful. He quickly willed himself into becoming Danny Phantom, and threw himself into the mess of the attack.

Just as Danny pulled back to punch the closest demon, Vlad suddenly appeared behind the demon and knocked it out with a large ecto-blast to the head. Danny didn't notice in time to stop himself from delivering the blow, and when his fist connected with Vlad's chin, Vlad stumbled back several steps.

Vlad cleared his head just in time to see Danny hovering guiltily over him. The older half-ghost couldn't hold back his temper. He growled and released an even larger ecto-blast towards the boy.

"Watch who you're hitting!" Vlad growled as he turned around to deliver a large blow with his leg to a demon who was creeping up behind him.

"Sorry!" Danny yelled angrily, turning away to punch at several attackers to his left. "I guess we're not good at actually working together."

Vlad quickly duplicated himself three times. His three copies scattered and began attacking the mob of possessed bodies randomly.

"I suppose we aren't," the original Vlad said thoughtfully. He grabbed a struggling demon and held her by her wrists. "Care to do the honors?"

Danny was surprised at Vlad's offer and he hesitated only slightly before slamming a ecto-charged fist into the demon's gut. The demon screamed and fell from Vlad's hands to the ground, holding her stomach in pain. Vlad turned away, preoccupied with the multitude of the mob, but Danny hovered about a foot above the fallen demon, proud of his work. So he was naturally surprised when another demon grabbed him by the leg and pulled him to the ground on his back. Several demons crowded in a circle around him and he looked up at them with a gasp.

Several moments later, he was flung, bruised and bloodied, from the group and landed in the corner of the room, away from the fight. When Danny finally managed to sit upright, he surveyed the room. The four Vlads were very busy punching and forming ecto-shields, and all the demons were busy trying to take them down. There was one person besides Danny, however, who wasn't part of the physical fight. Sam was leaning almost motionless against the wall, watching the fight intently. Danny was idly reminded of the last thing the Dairy King had said to him.

"Kings don't fight; they get other people to fight _for_ them!" the cheese-head ghost had said, which brought Danny to the immediate conclusion that the demon controlling Sam was also in control of all the demons. Get rid of the demon possessing Sam, and he, Danny, Dean, and Vlad would have the advantage of a confused demon population without their leader. It was genius.

Danny became intangible and invisible as he slid through the wooden planks of the floor. He was going for the element of surprise, so he appeared suddenly in front of Sam and plunged his hand into the hunter's body to pull the demon out.

Danny found his plan to be working very smoothly with the exception of very few minor flaws. The first was that he couldn't feel anything but hot, intangible gas inside Sam's body, and the second was that it burned more than the time Danny had set his hand down on his mother's kitchen stove. The third, and probably most important, was that he was slowly being pulled inside Sam, like his body was a gravitational force.

Danny quickly became completely intangible once more before he found himself plunged inside Sam. Other than the blindingly burning pain, the space was very crowded. To Danny, it felt like the time both he and Tucker had overshadowed Paulina. It was crowded enough with Sam's heavy thoughts, but with two very supernatural bodies taking up the space, Sam's body was downright full to the brim with multiple consciousnesses. It was confusing, uncomfortable, and very, very painful.

Danny cried out, as did the Demon and Sam, and both the half-ghost and the demon were thrown out of Sam's body. Danny, who was glowing green, now, landed dazed and confused on his backside, and the demon searched for a different body to possess. Sam, however, fell to the floor, completely unconscious.

"Don't you ever," a feminine voice spat menacingly in Danny's ear, _"ever_ touch me, ghost._"_ Danny was thrown with the powerful demon's invisible force against the closest wall. "Unless I want you to." The pretty-looking girl possessed by Lilith looked around the room that was still filled with chaos before telling Danny, "This is getting boring."

She snapped her fingers and almost instantly, every single last demon froze. The three Vlad copies disappeared, but the original didn't seem to notice the change in atmosphere. He was still concentrated on wasting every last demon, and he punched one more out before Lilith grabbed him and threw him against the wall next to Danny.

Lilith paused, studying the two half-ghosts in front of her, and in the background, Danny heard Dean's screams. He gave the demon a terrified, pleading look, but it went unnoticed by her. Instead, she drew close to the two half-ghosts and smiled as Danny flinched under her intense gaze.

"It really is too bad you're ghosts," she said to them. "You both have such colorful, pretty eyes."

Danny gave her an odd look. "Um, normally I'd take that as a compliment, but, and correct me if I'm wrong, but I think you said _both_ of us," he said, glancing at Vlad. "That's just awkward."

And like after any quip from the famous Danny Phantom, he tried to phase backwards through the wall. He gasped in surprise when he found he couldn't move even a centimeter.

Vlad rolled his eyes at both Danny's antics and Lilith's words. "Please, don't make me sick," he told the demon. "Let us go and _maybe _I'll let you enjoy the rest of your afterlife in peace."

Danny turned his head to Vlad when the older man suddenly began to choke.

"I don't like it when people are mean to me," Lilith informed him slowly.

"Then please…tell…us what…you want…with us," Vlad gasped through the chokehold on his throat.

Lilith smiled before taking a step back. The grip loosened and Vlad began gulping down deep breaths of air .

"That," she said, "is a good idea."

She began to play with her hair as she put on a thoughtful expression. "It's simple, really," she went on before pointing at Vlad. "You're powerful." She then pointed to Danny. "And you're decent enough. My theory is that, once your human halves are removed, combined together, you'd be unstoppable."

Danny immediately broke a sweat at what she was implying.

"And what makes you think that _combining_ us will make us want to work with you?" Vlad asked in an unreadable tone.

Lilith pouted remorsefully. "Demons want nothing more than to be left alone," she said sincerely. "I think I speak for all the undead when I say that hunters _must _be eliminated."

Vlad donned a thoughtful expression. "Say we do help you destroy hunters like him," he said, gesturing to the unconscious Sam. "What is in it for us?"

"Nothing," Lilith said with a smirk, "except having the luxury of living your afterlife in peace."

"So we'd have to come to a temporary partnership," Vlad deduced. "The very thought sickens me, but if we were to be_…combined_ like you say, what would you have to offer our alliance?_"_

"Vlad," Danny piped up nervously as he glanced at the large group of frozen demons staring blankly at them, "I don't think it's a good idea."

"Shut up," the more experienced half-ghost ordered, looking to Lilith expectantly.

Lilith released her grip on Plasmius and he landed on his knees before he pushed himself onto his feet.

"I think the real question is," she said with a smile, "what you have to offer _us_."

Vlad rubbed his chin. "If you let go of Daniel, here, I can promise you his and my_ unyielding_ loyalty, along with the loyalty of several prominent denizens of the Ghost Zone."

Danny waited for Lilith to let him go, ready to disappear lightning fast. When she did, however, Vlad grabbed his wrist, effectively preventing him from leaving.

"Let bygones be bygones, shall we?" the older half-ghost asked him and Danny was frozen with momentary confusion, wondering what Vlad could possibly mean by his words. But in less than moments, Danny understood. Vlad was bluffing, and he wanted Danny to help him fight.

The boy quickly charged his hand with a heavy ecto-blast. "Bygones," he agreed with a quick nod, and released the energy into Lilith's face.

Lilith fell backwards, her face and shoulder charred with two separate attacks.

"Attack them!" she shrieked and the other demons immediately began to swarm the half-ghosts.

"You first," Vlad said with a sheepish grin, motioning Danny forward.

Danny bit his lip, distorting his small, nervous smile. "Actually, I believe it's ladies first," he said, giving Vlad a small shove towards the crowd. And they were off, punching and kicking their way out of the mess of demons, fighting much better than they had before.

Danny found that freezing the demons was the most efficient way to stop them. Vlad grabbed the nearest demon and stopped it from running, while Danny plunged his hand inside it and froze it from the inside. Vlad's clones prevented other demons from hurting either Danny or Vlad during the process of the demon's single-handed elimination.

But, in the end, there were too many for either half-ghost to handle. One by one, they slipped through the cracks of the clone's protective shields, and they used their invisible and intangible forces to penetrate the original Vlad's ecto-shield and deliver heavy blows to both half-ghosts before they could be taken down.

Bruised and beaten, Danny turned to Vlad after he pushed away the closest demon with a frozen ecto-blast. "Remember that power I used against you, like, a month ago?"

"How could I forget?" Vlad grunted in affirmation as he shot electricity through the closest demon before pinning it and holding it out for Danny to freeze.

"It might tear down the building, so I want you to send a duplicate to save Sam and Dean," Danny ordered, but Vlad didn't care as much as Danny did about the two hunters. He continued to do nothing but take down demons.

"Fine!" Danny huffed as he froze yet another demon. "_I'll_ do it."

Danny pushed the demons away with a dome-shaped ecto-shield long enough to duplicate himself. His duplicate picked up Sam , who was still laying unconscious in the corner of the room, away from all the action. The boy then flew to save Dean. He arrived in the back closet just as Dean stabbed the very last demon in his way. Danny, who was still carrying Sam, surprised the injured hunter when he picked the man up without an explanation. The young half-ghost half-flew, half-dragged the brothers towards the wall.

"Could you maybe lighten up on the pie?" Danny wondered aloud in a strained voice.

"The wall!" Dean suddenly cried, pointing out the wall they were headed towards at over fifty miles per hour. "The _wall_!"

He flinched and shut his eyes tight as they were about to hit, expecting to be smashed face first against it, and was surprised to feel nothing. He opened his eyes to find he was outside. Danny deposited him and his brother on the hill near the wall and the water tank, somewhere near the cars and where the dead body of the crossroads demon was laying hidden under the brush.

"Whoa," Dean whispered, looking over his arms to check if they were still tangible. "Did we just go _through_—"

"Stay here," Danny ordered distractedly as his form began to flicker.

"Man, are you okay?" Dean asked, unnerved by the way Danny was slowly fading out of his vision, but Danny ignored him.

"And, uh, you might want to cover your ears or something," the boy said before he completely disappeared, leaving Dean alone with his unconscious brother.

-

The original Danny took the deepest breath he possibly could, which was Vlad's cue to leave. The older half-ghost bolted from the room, wanting desperately to protect his ear drums.

Phasing through the walls of the building and flying through the midnight sky, Vlad met up with the two brother merely moments afterwards. He didn't allow time for the hunter to ask questions before he covered his ears and closed his eyes.

"What—?" Dean asked, finally giving up on waking his brother, but his question was completely cut off by the loudest ghostly wailing he had ever heard. The noise was so terrible, Dean and Vlad couldn't but grimace and fall to their knees in pain, trying to cover up their ears as best they could.

They watched through the open back door of the building as the noise coming from Danny's mouth pushed back all the Demons. They were surely shrieking in pain, but their cries were cancelled out by the Ghostly Wail. The piercing wail continued to pound on everyone's ears for almost a full minute before Danny finally stopped to take a breath.

"Shit," Dean said loudly. "Can he get out?"

It was then that Vlad noticed that the back wall had given out and the roof was sure to collapse. He looked to Danny to find that the boy was stumbling around, surely too weak to become intangible.

"Damn it," Vlad swore before he teleported to save the younger half-ghost.

The building finally gave way and collapsed with an ominous groan just as Danny suddenly found himself on his hands and knees in the grass of the field just outside the building, panting to catch his breath.

"What the _hell_ was that?" Dean asked even louder, and Danny just sighed in relief before he collapsed on his back, with a smile.

Unfortunately for him, however, the fight was far from over. He, Dean, and Vlad all found themselves slammed against yet another wall, with nothing in their line of vision but a very, _very _angry Lilith followed by a trail of remaining Demons.

* * *

**A/N: **Finally the climax is here. Thanks so much for reviewing, guys! I hope you liked this action filled chapter. This chapter was basically the reason I began this story.


	18. Chapter 18

**Supernatural Retaliation**

Chapter Eighteen

* * *

"_You._" She all but breathed fire. "You thought you could get away, didn't you?" Lilith favored the three conscious men with a heartless black glare before she focused her complete attention on Dean. "The dogs are still coming for you," she said, giving him a sad, pitying smile. Turning back to face the two half ghosts, she told them, "And as for you two? I _will_ get what I want." She grinned hungrily. "And I _want_ half of both of you."

The tension ran thick and heavy between all four of them, so of course, Danny couldn't help but comment. "You know, I was thinking," he began conversationally, dragging his eyes back down from the night sky to look at powerful demon. "What you want to do might not be such a hot idea. You see, I've _been _all ghost before, and, you know, every time, something _always _goes wrong." Vlad nodded in sullen agreement.

"Oh, but it _is_," Lilith purred, drawing close to the boy, who winced. "The best idea I've had since the war even began. Because, once you're _permanently_ one hundred percent ghost, you'll see it our way."

Danny shuddered. Her vindictive tone made it quite clear that she would go to any lengths to get what she wanted. A shiver stole its way down his spine, not because of her proximity, but because of her convincing argument. He knew deep down that if he _was_ to ever lose his life, his ghost definitely wouldn't be quick to side with the people who hunted him. "I can assure you, soon, you'll want the hunters gone," she continued slowly, pulling back. "You will _want_ Dean dead."

And as soon as she was three feet from him, it began. He never saw it coming. Screaming in agony as he struggled to free himself from her invisible bonds, Danny clenched his eyes shut against the pain that suddenly tore through his stomach. He felt it ripping and slashing at him, pulling at him and forcing him to fall apart from the inside out. He felt his own body unwillingly stretch and pull away from itself. It was like he had always imagined the Ghost Gauntlets would feel like, except worse—_so_ much worse. Even if his legs had been free, he would have been imprisoned by the pain. From right beside him, the boy could feel Vlad's screams. They penetrated his ears, making them ring, and he felt the man's deep vocal cords grating against each other through the bricks of the wall.

A gasp escaped Dean and his eyes widened in horror. "Stop," he managed to whisper after several moments of giving in to morbid fascination. He couldn't stand to watch, but he couldn't tear his eyes away. He could clearly see what was happening to the two half ghosts—his _allies_—but his mind failed to comprehend. To him it looked as if their ghosts and human bodies were being forced apart. "Stop it."

And to his great surprise, Lilith listened. Suddenly, after what seemed like one big yank, the ghosts and their respective human bodies fell apart. The screaming stopped, and Lilith let them fall to the ground. Danny Fenton fell on his back, out cold, and his ghost, Danny Phantom, was on the ground, leaning motionless against the wall beside the boy. Vlad Masters was awake, on his hands and knees, but a look fear had overwhelmed his otherwise stoic features. His ghost was kneeling next to him with a look of disbelief.

All was silent for a moment, while everyone remained motionless. But then, as if adding insult to injury, a deep barking filled the field, and everyone turned their heads to see.

And for the first time, Dean began to panic. He struggled wildly against the force that held him down.

"Let me go, bitch!" he screamed, grunting in exertion when he pushed against the wall behind him as hard as he possibly could. "Let me _go_—"

He hadn't expected anything, but with a small smile, Lilith complied. Adrenaline was already pumping through his veins by the time he realized he was soaring through the air. He landed heavily in the hard dirt, a good distance away from everyone else, and, picking himself up off the ground, he spun, searching for the dogs that were coming for his soul. And not fifty feet away, he found them.

Lilith's pealing laughter filled the night sky as Dean began to run. She watched with happy eyes as the dogs bolted from their seats and ran to fetch him. The faster the hunter ran from them, the faster they tore through the night. It was a game of cat and mouse, and the mouse was sorely losing. In the end, however, they might as well have been running after a snail, for Dean suddenly slowed. His chest heaved up and down from running for his life and he gave Lilith one last exhausted look. And he stopped.

He closed his eyes.

And the dogs were on top of him.

From where he lay on the ground after he just regained consciousness, Sam saw it all, and his heart stopped when Dean fell from sight into the tall brush. And even before the thick spray of red, he knew—he _knew_—what had happened. The triumphant barks of the dogs only confirmed it. He pushed himself off the ground, ignoring the dirt and pebbles that stuck to his face, and he pulled the colt from his belt loop. Looking around for the demon in control of it all, he spotted Lilith only several feet away, completely occupied with watching the hell hounds shred their latest victim to bits.

Sam didn't hesitate. Before he knew what he was doing, Lilith was done for. He didn't even stop to think about how much it scared him that he enjoyed the feeling of Lilith's cold, red and black blood as it spattered on his face and hands. He shot her point blank and he savored her faltering expression and her fading smile as she looked up from her newest wound to the man that shot her.

"It's over," he said into her face. Her form flickered with electricity. She opened her mouth to say something, but blood was all that came out. But suddenly, she tilted her head back and screamed. Black demon essence—Lilith's essence—escaped the human body and Sam began to scream right along with her. Lilith was escaping.

"_No_!" he shouted before prolonging it into an angry scream. "_NO_!"

But Lilith was gone. He watched as the woman's body fell to the ground with a sickening thud before he turned the gun on whoever was closest and awake. Which happened to be Vlad Masters. He searched with wild eyes for the other bodies he knew should be there, but only succeeded in finding the unconscious form of Danny Fenton. Masters raised both his hands in shock and immediate defeat, staring openly at the blood on Sam's face. Sam hesitated only slightly before dropping the colt and bolting for his brother.

"Dean," he panted. "Dean!" He ran blindly to his brother, but stopped when he heard grunts of pain.

"Let me go!" A flash of green revealed Danny's ghost pushing away from Masters' ghost, who then reached out again in a futile attempt to stop the boy.

"You'll kill yourself!" was the angry reply, but Phantom didn't answer.

Sam couldn't see clearly through the tears and blood, and it didn't help that he wouldn't be able to see the dogs anyway, but he heard a whimper and a growl. The hunter wiped his eyes with the back of his shredded sleeve to see Phantom falling from several feet in the air, a viscous green pouring from two new clearly pronounced bite marks on his front. For a moment, everything was quiet. Dean was still blocked from Sam's vision by the weeds, but Sam dove for his older brother anyway, landing by his head on his knees.

He flinched at what he saw, but reached out despite his horror. "Dean," he whispered shakily as his fingers trailed the man's forehead. Dean was unresponsive, but Sam knew deep down that it was only to be expected. No one ever escaped the hell-hounds.

A hacking cough split through the silence and Sam looked up. He, Phantom and the ghost of the billionaire were surrounded by the few of Lilith's followers who were still standing. The two ghosts soon found their hands pinned behind their backs. The older ghost didn't even bother to struggle, and Danny's ghost was too wounded to even try. The boy was too busy coughing up blood to care. In the distance, Sam saw a demon forcing the human half of the billionaire forward with the unconscious boy in his arms. With dismay, he realized that this was it. Game over.

But one last glance at his dying brother told him differently. A last shred of hope, a last ounce of courage came bubbling up from his stomach in a whirl of adrenaline. He clenched his fists as he look up from Dean to give all the demons a scathing glare. The blood soaking his jeans at the knees, the gaping hole in his brother's chest, and look of pain etched into every line of Dean's unconscious face made him suddenly feel very, _very_ angry.

"This isn't over," he told the demons slowly, behind clenched teeth, and he raised his hand. It was all completely instinctual, what he was doing, and he didn't have any control at all. He reached inside of himself and remembered his encounter with the Yellow-Eyed Demon. He recalled all the times Dean had given him funny looks because he realized that something about his brother was different. And everyone was right. Dead people were supposed to stay dead.

Or else they come back with abilities far beyond their own control.

"You're all dead," he whispered and slowly but surely the first one began to choke. Phantom's shoulders stopped sagging, and the ghost boy lifted his head to see why they hadn't already been shredded by the demons. Masters, who was carrying the human Danny and had just arrived at the circle, was surprised to find himself shoved in the back by the demon who had been forcing forward. The weight of Danny made him fall to the ground, but he rolled to his back and watched in shock as black essence began to file slowly out of the choking demon's mouth.

"What's…?" But the ghost kid was cut off by the sudden dropping of all the bodies that surrounded them. They were all demon free. Sam had somehow supernaturally forced the demons out of the bodies they had possessed.

Sam's concentration suddenly fell and the hunter fell to the ground on his back next to his brother, completely drained of energy. "The demons…," he said between gasping breaths.

"They're gone," Masters' ghost said before he reunited himself with his living body. Danny was strangely absent, but Sam didn't care. He closed his eyes, ignoring the two half ghosts. There was only one thing to do now….

He picked himself up and stared at the person responsible for keeping him alive. The person who had sacrificed his own _soul _to keep him alive. The _only_ person in his life worth living for: his brother.

"…Dean…."

* * *

**A/N:** So technically, I guess this is my angst day submission. I hope you liked this chapter. I don't know how much I like it, though. I think I went way overboard trying to create suspense. Anyway, season four of Supernatural has started! I think I almost died of happiness. Except the first episode was sort of like...wtf. Angels? Seriously? Come on. The second ep was way better, though.

Oh and PS, to answer your question, yes, I'm pretty sure demons kill whoever they possess. Barely anyone ever survives in Supernatural. And also, for those who don't watch the series: the dogs or "hell hounds" are the ones who kill people who have sold their soul, and they're apparently invisible to everyone but demons and the person who sold their soul.


	19. Chapter 19

**Supernatural Retaliation**

Chapter Nineteen

* * *

Sam stared down into his brother's motionless face for several still moments until he was unable bear it any longer. The tears stopped, and he stood up, carelessly letting his brother's head hit the ground. His chest was empty, his face devoid of any emotion. The hunter felt strangely light and newly freed of a depressingly large burden. What he did no longer mattered. Morals no longer mattered. _Nothing_ mattered—not without Dean.

Glaring murderously at the billionaire's ghost, he clenched his fists. He knew it would be pointless to do anything now, but he couldn't help but feel irritated by the ghost's presence. He was not just going to destroy it—he was going to make every supernatural being _pay_.

The ghost of the billionaire took notice of the severe look on Sam's face and took a step backwards.

"You're not really going to turn on _us_, are you?" he growled. "We _helped_ you. It's not our fault your idiot brother got himself killed."

"It doesn't make a difference," Sam sniffed casually, stretching a hand towards the ghost. "You're a ghost. _I'm _a hunter."

Vlad tensed, prepared to defend himself, but the conversation interrupted by an almost inhuman groan of pain. Sam's murderous expression disappeared as he spun.

"Dean?"

The man in question, still in the same spot Sam had left him, began to pant sporadically and suddenly wrapped his arms around himself, covering most of the bloody mess of his torso. He groaned again and rolled onto his side.

"Hurts," he half rasped, half groaned, clenching his eyes shut. "So…_bad_."

Sam was at his side in an instant, his hands lightly resting upon his brother's shaking arm.

"Dean?" he asked, placing his other hand on his Dean's upturned shoulder. He gasped when Dean's breath hitched in his throat and his breathing slowed to a stop. Sam's grip on his brother's shoulder tightened and he roughly shook him. "Dean! Can you hear me? Don't you dare leave me! _Dean_!"

And Dean's breathing immediately picked up again. "No…not…Dean," the blond hunter managed to choke out, and Sam scrunched his face in confusion.

When his brother opened his eyes, Sam instantly stood and backed away. Dean's eyes were not their usual hazel, but instead an unnatural glowing green.

"Get out of my brother," he said slowly in a low raspy voice before sinking back to his knees and burying his face in his hands. "Isn't it enough for you that he's dead? Now you're_...defiling_ his body." The tears returned, but this time, they were accompanied by blinding anger. Sam raised his head from his arms and placed both hands on his brother's bloodied chest.

Danny tried to raise Dean's heavy head from the ground to see what Sam was doing, but being in the hunter's body made it too painful for Danny to do anything other than lay still and breathe.

"What…?" the boy finally managed to choke out. "I'm trying…to keep his body…alive. So he can…come back._"_

But Sam didn't answer. Instead he closed his eyes and began to concentrate. He was going to save his brother's dignity by destroying the half ghost. This wouldn't just be the last time the boy would possess Dean's body. This was the last time he would possess _anyone's_ body.

"Daniel—get out _now_!" the billionaire cried out suddenly from behind Sam. It was too late. From inside Dean's corpse, Danny began to choke and splutter. The younger half ghost could just barely detect the metallic taste in Dean's mouth as he tried to keep his hold on the dying man's last shreds of life.

Danny rolled onto Dean's side and pushed himself to his hands as he began to choke more heavily. He felt his supernatural grip on Dean's body being slowly severed, and somehow he knew that if he let go and Sam had his way, he wouldn't only be freed from Dean's body, but sent to somewhere he had never even dared to think about. Sam would send him to hell.

Vlad dove towards Dean's body, intent on ripping the boy away from the dead hunter's body and saving him from Sam's supernatural death grip, but Sam sensed his movement and positioned a hand between himself and the older man. He split his concentration between the two half ghosts. One half he used to keep the older man in place, away from the boy, and the other he used towards pulling the boy away from his brother's body.

Sam smiled through his clenched teeth when the boy began to choke and shake from under his grip. He was strong enough to rip the boy's ties to the living world, and he was succeeding….

Until the older half ghost suddenly broke free of his invisible vice and dove forward with fisted hands. The last things Sam remembered were angry blood red eyes, sharp, pointed fangs, and glowing calloused knuckles speeding towards his face.

* * *

**Two Days Afterwards**

"You're sure you don't want anything to eat?"

The gruff voice did nothing for Sam's throbbing headache. He shook his head in response, refusing to look his uncle in the eyes.

Bobby sighed, but didn't lower his voice. "I'm not letting you handle this like your brother did."

Sam looked up from the raised patch of upturned dirt. "They won't let me, anyway."

Bobby raised his eyebrows. "You mean you already tried to trade your life for his?" he growled. "Damn it."

"I offered them everything I had." Sam exhaled through his nose. "Lilith won't let any Crossroads Demon make deals with me." He looked into his uncle's eyes. "You don't have to worry about me, Bobby. I'll be fine."

Bobby nodded solemnly. "Well, I'll leave you alone, then," he said. "You meet me back at my house, you hear?"

Sam nodded absently without reply. He read the short encryption on Dean's headstone over and over until the words and dates no longer made sense.

He heard Bobby slam his truck door shut and drive away, but still didn't look up. He stood there for some time, unaware of anything around him, until a twig snapped and broke his trance.

Sam looked up and around but saw nothing.

Someone sighed an audibly relieved sigh.

The hunter spun to find a familiar ghost standing behind him. The boy's comparatively weathered green eyes blinked up at him from his childishly naive face.

"I totally thought you were dead," the boy sighed again.

Sam stiffened and clenched his fists before instinctively reaching towards his jacket pocket. "What are you doing here?" he asked coldly.

"I don't know," the ghost said, glancing sideways at Dean's grave. "Just…making sure you're alive. I've heard ghosts talking about you, you know. They want to know what's going to happen. What are you going to do now?"

"Leave me alone before I kill you," he said, turning back around to his brother's grave. "I didn't think your uncle would let you come near me."

"Who said Vlad knows where I am? He's not my dad."

The hunter glanced over his shoulder at the boy. "I thought I told you to go away."

"Okay, okay," Danny said in exasperation, but instead of leaving, he neared Dean's grave. Sam stiffened and felt around his pocket for Ruby's knife.

"I'll go home…just…." The ghost boy trailed off as he stared longingly at Dean's grave. When Sam finally gripped the knife tight, Danny produced from literally nowhere a flower made from ice.

He eyed Sam and his pocketed hand warily before he gently set the flower on the patch of dirt beside the small headstone.

The gesture made Sam let go of the knife. He swallowed the lump in his throat and clenched his eyes shut. Something was telling him to tell the ghost boy how he really felt; how sorry he was that this had all happened—that he had dragged Danny into the middle of a fight that wasn't his. He wanted to express just how deeply touched he was by the fact that the kid had tried to save Dean's life even though Sam wouldn't let him.

"Danny," he said, breathing heavily through his nose, trying to calm himself. "I'm really…."

When he opened his eyes, he realized that the ghost boy had already disappeared.

Sam had never felt so alone.

* * *

_To Be Continued..._

* * *

**A/N: **Oh my god you are going to kill me. Before you do, let me explain! I got really bad writer's block and I was just going to leave the story as it was, but Miriam1 convinced me to continue it. I thought really hard about how I wanted to end this story, and I decided since I started before the ending of season three of Supernatural, I wanted to base the ending off the season finale, where, as most of you might know, Dean dies and is last seen crying for Sam in hell.

I'm sad that it's over, but that said, it ended with a cliffhanger, which means there's obviously a lot of room for a sequel. I plan to incorporate elements of season four (!) but Danny will still be a major player in what is to come.

I can't thank you guys enough for all your concrit and encouraging reviews!


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